


Is It Too Late To Love You Again?

by SugarDarling13



Series: Meant To Be [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette April 2020, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, I Know It's Over, Post-Episode: s03 Mangeamour | Heart Hunter (Battle of the Miraculous Part 1), Post-Episode: s03 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous Part 2), Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 39,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24682240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugarDarling13/pseuds/SugarDarling13
Summary: For Adrienette April 2020: (POST SEASON 3) Marinette struggles to get over her feelings for Adrien, when she knows what that he's already dating Kagami. But what happens when when a certain blonde starts reciprocating her feelings despite his uncertain relationship with this new girlfriend? (First few chapters are mainly self-contained but they add up to the main storyline).
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Luka Couffaine & Kagami Tsurugi
Series: Meant To Be [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1801756
Comments: 23
Kudos: 151





	1. Pranks

"The door's locked."

"What?" Marinette's voice loudly echoed off the walls of the empty classroom. Well...it was empty...except for one other person.

"It's locked. It won't open. I've tried." Adrien sighed gesturing to the doorknob.

"Let me try." She stepped to the door of the classroom and twisted the knob.

He was right. It was locked like so. And she so knew who was behind this...

"What day is it again?" She asked him.

"Uh...Wednesday?"

"No...what I mean is what's the _date_."

"April 1st. _Oh_." He sighed as the realisation struck him, "Alya and Nino?"

"Definitely Alya and Nino." Besides, who else would be behind this? From day one, they'd been behind the pair. Surely, they'd take advantage of this perfect opportunity when it was only them in the classroom.

Marinette was dragging behind in Maths and she really needed some help. Adrien was kind enough to offer her that help as it was a free period (everyone else had gone out to see Alix and Kim's prank war). Supposedly, their wonderful friends decided it would be funny if they locked them in. Maybe a few months ago, she wouldn't have been against it. But...things had changed...

Adrien was with Kagami now. And she was trying to get over her feelings for him. That was trying to be his friend. She really was getting better at it. Her stammer had gone away, and she could talk confidently around him. But locking her in a room with him wasn't going to do her any favours...

"You don't look so happy?" Adrien asked a hint of disappointment to his tone.

"Oh...um...no...it's just that...I-I promised Alix that I'd be there in the last 15 minutes to cheer her on." _It wasn't a lie_. Though, 'promise' was a strong word, "but it's fine, I bet that she was on in this prank too!" _Seemed like her._

He didn't look reassured though as he anxiously stared at her with a strain in his smile.

Oh no...did she just tense the mood? Ugh...whenever it came to her feelings to him, things would become awkward. _Maybe that was another sign that they were just meant to be friends_.

She better fix this. After all, that's what good friends did...right?

"Until we wait for a teacher to uh...get us out of this mess. Why not do something fun? It is April Fools Day, right?" She smirked playfully as his shoulders seem to relax and a different emotion crossed his eyes.

"What do you have in mind?" A wide smile plastered his face _. A smile! Yes! That's a good sign!_

"Absolutely nothing." Her smirk grew wider as she waited for the bomb, "though there might be something on your back. You might want to check." She finished with _a wink_ (That's not too much, right?).

His eyes widened as his head and hands turned to his back whilst she chuckled in amusement. He managed to catch the culprit though as he pouted at the funny cartoon fish that was plastered behind him.

" _Poisson d'avril_ , huh? Very funny." He muttered as she broke out into laughter.

"Even took a pic! You didn't even notice!" She said in between chuckles as she took out her phone to show him a pic of a very focused Adrien reading his book inconspicuous of the fish on his back.

"Please don't tell me you didn't post that online!" He asked quite panicked

"No. Of course not." She reassured him as he sighed in relief, "I would never to do that to you."

Adrien smiled at her words and gazed at her intently. Another emotion stirred in his eyes. One that kindled a fluttering feeling inside her. A fluttering feeling that wasn't meant to be there...

"Watch out though!" She stated rather loudly breaking the moment they weren't supposed to have, "I'll be that _friend_ who'll embarrass you in front of your future children and grandchildren! This picture will have a great audience!"

"That's _great_ , all right." He said very sarcastically, "You better watch out too then. I'll come back at you! Soon enough, I'll have something to show to your future children and grandchildren. It'll have just a bigger audience." He smirked satisfied with himself.

"Don't look so pleased with yourself yet. I'm not going to let you take a silly picture of me now." She bantered proudly, "Besides, you still haven't pranked me today. And I won't let you either. Currently, I'm on the winning side." She pointed towards herself and raised her head in pride. _Pranking her was going to be a challenge for him._

"Hmm...that's such a shame..." Adrien said surprisingly with both sarcasm and assertiveness, "But what if I already pranked you." He smirked as he knew that the bomb was now in his hands.

Her eyes widened as she frantically waved her hands around; looking behind her shoulders too, she even began to search her hair. Meanwhile, Adrien chuckled at her and crossed his arms in pleasure. _The tables had turned quite drastically._

"B-but there's nothing on me?" She questioned in confusion after she was done with The Big Prank Search.

"Who said it was about anything on you? Pranks are only fooling people, right?" He shrugged almost innocently even with that smug smile on his face.

Her mouth was half-open as she stared at him in befuddlement as he side-glanced at her and stepped towards the door.

Adrien twisted the knob of the door several times and drew the door agape, taking a step out of the room as he turned himself towards her.

"The door wasn't locked from the outside; it was locked from the _inside_. Now, we're even, Nette." He smugly stated and _winked_ at her.

"Oh." She deadpanned. Marinette. exe had stopped working.

Her reaction indulged him as his smirk grew wider and he left the room in a triumphant manner.

Marinette. exe stood glancing after him, blinking and blinking, her brain going on reboot.

_Oh. Oh! OH! OH!_

Heat invaded her face as she understood the implications of his prank.

Adrien had locked _them_ in! Not someone else! He locked them in! He locked them in with only the two of them in the room! Only the two of them! _Just him and her!_

Not that he'd ever understand why it was so important that it was just _him and her..._

_This oblivious boy was going to be the death of her. She knew it._

_He was going to be the absolute death of her ; )_

_\---_


	2. #marinettechallenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff and Angst. Beware!

"Adrien, your bodyguard will pick you up 20 minutes late today. Your father has some urgent business to attend." Nathalie's sternly told him, from the other end of the phone.

"Urgent business? What does father need to do?" Adrien asked her. Father barely came out of the house and when he did, it was an important matter for sure.

"Nothing that you need to concern yourself with. It's just a casual discussion about some paperwork, your father won't even be directly present in the room."

"Of course." _Having meetings from his tablet had become a very ordinary matter to his father...ever since his mother disappeared..._

"I'll do my homework in the library."

"Excellent, Adrien. I'll let you know when your bodyguard has arrived." And without further ado, she hung up...

He drew his books from his locker and started heading towards the library. Obviously, the day that he could stay late at school, nobody was free to hang out. Nino had a date with Alya, something he didn't want to third-wheel, and Kagami wasn't there either.

And other than that, he wasn't sure what everyone else was up to. Plus, he didn't feel very comfortable hanging out with everyone else without Nino (and maybe Chloe was there too, but honestly they would never actually 'hang out'); he maybe could've just played video games with Max or contacted Kim for some basketball but...even though he knew everyone and got along with them well. Adrien didn't have that Cat Noir confidence to interact with them by himself, he didn't have the time anyways. The only other classmate that Adrien felt comfortable enough to interact with alone was-

_Ah..._ speak of the de-wait-she wasn't a devil-she was more like an angel and he couldn't say otherwise. Anyhow, speak of the _angel_ , the pigtailed bluenette sat on one of the desks in the library.

A smile bloomed his features. Looks like he won't be alone. Although, he couldn't really interact with her because she appeared to be _asleep_.

Adrien moved towards her table and took a seat beside her. He turned himself towards her, leaning his head forward.

Marinette's head lulled on her sketchbook as she faced his side. Her hair was slightly ruffled and her mouth hung open almost comically, but her eyes were shut quite peacefully, her breath was heavy as her chest rose up and down. His smile widened at her sleeping form. It wasn't perfect but it was so _Marinette_. Something that was even better than perfect.

He didn't want to interrupt as he knew Marinette's sleep was important. Alya's Instagram proved that. Marinette wasn't a big fan of Alya's teasing comments online though. Especially not #marinettechallenge. It was a little sort of thing his classmates had between them, where they would pose and take a pic next to a sleeping Marinette.

He sort of wanted a part in #marinettechallenge. He didn't want to make Marinette feel uneasy though...their friendship wasn't as strong as it was now...what changed? He really wish he knew. But he was happy to have a good friend like Marinette, and he was determined to keep that friendship going.

A quick thought crossed his mind. He was isolating himself from class activities a bit too much, sure, he couldn't do anything about it most of the time due to his strict father. But when he did have the chance to take part in something, he was always too shy to do so, unless his friends asked. #marinettechallenge was only a fun joke, Marinette didn't seem to look like she minded despite her banter with Alya, plus he wasn't going to make her feel uncomfortable. Her friendship was important to him.

Before, he went into the actual thing, he took a picture over her current sleeping form and smirked. He wasn't going to post this picture; it would just come _useful_ soon.

Then, he gently closed her mouth for her, and softly tucked the loose strands of her hair away so it looked much neater. Marinette wouldn't be too comfortable with the fact that he had posted a pic of her on his Instagram when she had messy hair. It didn't look bad, she was beautiful nonetheless, he just didn't want to do anything that made her feel anxious.

Then he took his phone out and reached out his hand so both their faces were visible in the selfie.

Adrien's eyes shifted towards her _angelic_ sleeping form. He smiled. Snap!

There you go, the picture was taken. He then went onto Instagram to enter the caption, he was cautious with his words, making sure not to sound teasing, they were genuine though.

He smiled as his next post was sent. adrienagrestebrand had officially taken part in the #marinettechallenge.

_He hoped that she wasn't too mad at him._

* * *

Marinette groaned as she heard the ringing of her phone. _Ugh...who was calling?_

She reached out for her phone drowsily and answered the call; not bothering to look at the caller's name.

"Helloooo." She mumbled with a heavy yawn.

"Girl! Marinette, you're wake now! That's great!" Alya's exuberant voice boomed from her phone. _Wait...she had been asleep? She swore she only closed her eyes for a few seconds..._ Oh god! She glanced at the clock; she had slept for an hour! She better get home soon.

"CHECK INSTAGRAM, GIRL! CHECK IT NOW! BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE, I SWEAR! CHECK IT NOW! PLEASE CHECK IT!" Alya said _very_ enthusiastically.

"Okay. Okay. Fine. I will." She opened Instagram casually and checked her notifications. It was probably just a-WAIT!

Adrien posted something new! And he... _tagged_ her?

She swiped to his Instagram quickly as she clicked on his latest post.

It was a picture of her and him...except she was asleep...Wait? When was this taken? Well...it was definitely today...definitely under an hour ago...definitely in the library...and he definitely was _sitting right next to her!_

**adrienagrestebrand:** Took part in _#marinettechallenge_. Where you pose around the sleeping classmate 😉 But don't get me wrong marinettedesigned deserves that sleep! She works hard day and night, and always looks out for others. She's one of the most kind, generous and hard-working people I know! I'm glad to have her as a friend 😊 Sleep well then, our everyday Ladybug! (Also, please don't be mad me!)

Marinette grinned. How could she possibly be mad at him when he throws such sweet words at her! It makes her heart tingle in ways it _shouldn't._ He was just so _wonderful_ , and _considerate_ , and _caring_. _That's why she fell in love with him in the first place..._

"So? I assume you looked at the picture then!" Marinette jumped at Alya's voice. She'd forgotten that she was still on dial, "look at how adoringly he's looking at you." Alya pretty much cooed.

He was looking at her, and to say the least, his gaze was _adoring_. But that was just how Adrien was, there was nothing specific about the way he was looking at her, it was just who he was. Besides...

"It's not what you're thinking, Alya. There's Kagami, remember. He only sees me as a friend." She sadly smiled.

"Maybe things aren't what they seem at first sight." Alya's hopeful and interrogative voice piped in.

"I just don't want any false hope, I gotta go now, I'll talk later." Marinette hung up, she didn't want to hear Alya's pep-talk. It wouldn't work anyways.

Adrien was dating Kagami. That was a fact. She couldn't deny it even if she wanted to. She just had to accept the truth, support both her friends in their relationship and get over her feelings for him. She wasn't doing so well now; she still felt the racing of her heart in her chest as she gazed at the picture. It wasn't supposed to be there. It _wasn't_ meant to be.

Her phone beeped again interrupting her little meltdown. Surprisingly, Adrien had sent her something privately.

She went onto her DMs and found another picture. It was of her sleeping again. And in this one...she looked like _a hot mess_. Good thing that he didn't post that.

**Adrien:** Told you I'd come back at you! Now, I have something to show your future children and grandchildren! And we're even 😉

She beamed. This was how it was meant to be. _Friends._ Nothing what her head hoped for. In the end, they would be showing pictures to each other's children and grandchildren. Not their own.

Adrien and Kagami would probably get married; live in a huge house; have three beautiful children; have the cutest pets and they'd probably be the most perfect couple ever, to the point they'd be hogging the media's attention constantly. Kagami could give him much better than she ever had. As Kagami said. _Her and Adrien were made for each other._ Who was she to come in between?

She'd always be there for Adrien. As a friend. Maybe a godmother to his children too. But that was all she was. _A friend_. Nothing more. Nothing less.

_Him and her_ only existed in platonic forms. As much as it pained her.

So, she'd have to rid the tingle in her heart for him. It was the right thing to do. And Marinette always did the right thing. Even if it hurt her completely. That was all she was meant to be.

_Just A Friend._

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Marinette : (  
> Little do you know...


	3. Multimouse and Adrien

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bet?

Adrien collapsed in his couch after that long and tiring photoshoot. It lasted 3 whole hours: pretty much taking up his entire evening. He went straight there after school, and he had to cancel his patrol with Ladybug too because of it. He sighed and leaned back into the couch as he tossed Plagg a piece of Camembert who delightfully munched onto it. Huh...why was life so typical!

Adrien got off the couch and headed towards his piano, seated himself on the stool as he began to play a slow tune. He gazed off to the windows at the beautiful sunset that was in hues of pink and red.

On the building ahead, a little figure caught his eye. Wait...was that _Multimouse?_

His fingers brushed off the keys of the piano, as he moved to approach the windows for a closer look, he even used the camera on his phone to zoom in on her.

_It was Mari-Multimouse, alright._ He was surprised to see her, Ladybug made it clear that she couldn't get the miraculous again. He wasn't complaining though...besides Ladybug didn't always follow that principle.

Multimouse was perched upon a building all by herself, looking up at the sunset. There was something off though. She seemed _down._ Even if she was looking up.

Hastily, she turned his direction and gasped, she had caught him looking at her. He quickly shoved his phone back into his pocket as he gave her a sheepish smile and waved.

She smiled back at him and leaped his way on her little jump-rope. Multimouse rested herself on top of the window and gave him a gentle smile. Her movements were strangely rigid though. Not-so-Marinette-like.

"Hello, you're Adrien Agreste, right?" She greeted with that faux beam of hers that it hurt.

"Yeah, I am." _Not that she didn't already know that._

"I'm Multimouse, by the way." _Also known as Marinette Dupain-Cheng. But obviously he had to pretend that he didn't know that._

"Oh...are you a new hero or something? I don't see you around much?"

"I've actually only fought one proper fight, one that wasn't really filmed. And I'm just here today as both Ladybug and Cat Noir are busy on patrol." She gingerly said, "So I'm not very well-known. And you could say, I'm not exactly a proper hero."

"Ladybug must've chosen you for a reason. You're a hero nonetheless." _And that's not only in the suit._

A familiar speck of pink dusted across her face as she squeaked a little "thank you!" _Wow...the mouse miraculous was really the most perfect fit for her! It was petite and cute, just like her!_

"Please come in." Adrien said stretching his hands out to the side, as if he was making way for her.

"Are you sure about that? I don't want to seem intruding." She pondered, her eyes glancing to the door.

"Don't worry! You're welcome here! Nathalie doesn't really check up on me in this hour."

Mari-Multimouse bit her lip anxiously at him whilst he nodded at her in an assuring manner. Eventually, she smiled at him and entered his room, coming to stand near his piano.

"Your room is very big." She said contemplating her surroundings as she was hugging herself, her hands stroking her upper arms.

"That's what everyone says." He chuckled as he came to approach her. She smiled at him but then looked down out her toes nervously, still hugging herself, as she took a step backwards.

"Hey...don't mind me asking...but are you okay?"

"I'm fine." The fake smile materialised back onto her face. He wasn't convinced.

"You know..." he went to sit down on his piano stool, her eyes followed him as she turned to glance at him from behind her shoulder, "I do get the whole superhero 'protecting your identities' thing. Yeah, but if you're comfortable enough, you can share some things with me. Be as vague as possible. You don't need to give any names. I'll be willing to listen and trust me, I won't judge you." _He cared about his friends too much._

"I-I- "The shiver of her voice spiralled into her body. He felt uncomfortable looking at her stand like that. Adrien budged over his seat, making room for her to sit down.

"Sit down please." He insisted patting on the empty space beside him. She hesitated. Unsure of her choices, "please, it'd be easier for you."

She sighed and gently sat on the other end of the seat, gazing down at the keys of his piano as if fascinated by them.

"Are you okay talking about it?" He asked her.

"I-I-alright." She stated, her fingers anxiously brushing against the keys of his piano, "So, there's this boy."

"Mhm." He nodded. _Who was she talking about? Is it Luka?_

"I've been in love with him for months now." She said breathily, her finger pressing against one of his keys, as high-pitched melodic note sounded into the air.

"Yeah and..." _She had a problem with Luka? They looked at ease with each other._

"The thing is that I've always hesitated with confessing my feelings for him. I wanted to. I've tried again and again. But I was scared. I was never able to tell him how I feel. And..." her voice grew meek as her finger tapped against a low-pitched note. "It's too late now. He's in love with someone else that's perfect for him and reciprocates his feelings. I feel like such an idiot." She banged against a couple of keys, as she buried her face into her hands.

"Hey...no...wait...you're not an idiot." He rested a hand on her shoulder.

"How can you know that? You don't know me." She huffed. _That wasn't true and she knew it._

"You're right. I don't. But I can say that you're not stupid for loving someone. It happens to everyone."

"Thanks." She beamed a genuine smile at him for a second but then it shifted back into a hopeless expression again as she faced forward, "I don't know what to do. I'm trying to get over my feelings for him and focus on being his friend, but every time I do so, those feelings keep coming back."

"You know _feelings_ can't go away in one night, right?"

"I know but...the thing is that...the girl he likes...I know her...she's my friend. And if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't feel comfortable knowing that one of my friends was hitting on her _boyfriend_."

"Well...you're not exactly 'hitting on him' anymore, right?" _As far as his knowledge, Luka wasn't dating anyone, who was she talking about then?_

"Yeah...but I don't know what to do about my feelings for him. They're still there and it hurts. I mean I could avoid him but then he'd feel inconvenienced and I wouldn't like it, I wouldn't like him to feel bad?" She rambled on. _Ah...she was just so thoughtful like that. Whoever she was crushing on was so lucky_ , "What I mean is that...we've had plenty of misunderstandings in the past and I don't want things to become awkward between us. I still want to be friends with him. But at the same time, I'm scared my feelings for him will mess everything up like they always do." Her head drooped as she looked at her feet. It was painful. _Seeing Marinette upset was mental torture. Especially when she was wearing a cute mouse costume._

"Look. You say he doesn't know about your feelings, right?" He asked her as she nodded.

"Why don't you just tell him about your feelings then? If he knew about them, maybe things would become easier for you, like a burden lifted off your shoulders. You might not be able to pursue a romantic relationship with him, but you'd at least feel more comfortable knowing that it's all out."

"Valid but..." she dramatically leaned back and gazed up, "I've tried so many times before! What if I'm not able to do it?"

"Hmm...wanna bet?" he asked quirking his brow up.

"I bet that I won't be able to do it." She said moaning.

"No...what I mean is...do you actually want to bet? Cause I have officially placed a bet between the two of us to encourage you."

"What?" Her head turned to face him.

"If you don't confess to him in the next 14 days, you have to do something that I'll ask you to."

"That doesn't seem all bad." She said with a smirk.

"Uh...trust me...it'd be a _punishment,_ so it won't be all that great for you." He said casually, "If you do confess then I do whatever you ask me to do. And trust me, in whatever way it is, I'll make sure you meet me again here in 2 weeks. I'll literally hunt you down, ask Ladybug and Cat Noir for help maybe? But yeah...I hope our bet is sealed."

"Uhhh...I'm not sure." Multimouse said rubbing the back of her head.

" _Multimouse._ " He placed his other hand on her other shoulder to face her towards him, "It's now or never. And I'm sure you can do it, just trust yourself. You have nothing to be afraid of. So, come on now! Is our bet sealed?"

"Yes, I'm ready. You're right. I'll have to do this. Our bet is sealed." She smiled her real smile, he reciprocated it. Her bluebell gaze met with his emerald orbs. There was this thrill of electricity in the air. It carried a strange sort of intensity. An intensity of _something new?_

They stared until what seemed like forever until someone cleared their throat behind them.

" _Hem, hem_." The sound of the voice sent Multimouse crashing onto the ground as Adrien stood up to glance at their intruder.

Nathalie stood near the doorway. Her eyes bouncing between the two skeptically.

Adrien felt his breath caught in his throat. _What should he do now?_

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger for a couple more hours : )


	4. Hand Touches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please help Adrien!

Nathalie stood in the room where Adrien and Multimouse felt like mice caught in a trap.

" _Mi-Miss. Sancouer._ " Multimouse got up to her feet, her face as pink as her suit, "I'm Multimouse. A m-member of Ladybug's team of superheroes."

"I can see that." Nathalie said with narrowed eyes as she came to approach the pair, "Though, I'm more curious of what brings you into the Agreste mansion, and I'm quite concerned by the fact that you didn't come through the front door." Her tone wasn't so welcoming anymore as she exchanged glances between the pair.

"Nathalie." Adrien started. _Oh boy, he was in trouble,_ "There's nothing to worry about! She was just leaving anyways..."

"Y-yeah!" Multimouse said in agreement, "I only came here for directions t-to s-some place that I need to go to...for a mission! I'm kind of on a tight schedule, and I really wasn't planning to come here anyways. I was just passing by and I n-needed to ask him for help!"

"Exactly what I was going to say!" Adrien said smiling nervously at Nathalie. He _knew she wasn't a fool._

Nathalie didn't look like she believed them. Not a bit. He was afraid of what she was going to say next.

"Very well, Miss." She said coldly, "you would be running late on your _mission_ then. I suggest it's wise for you to leave."

"Um...yeah." Multimouse squeaked as she hurried to that open window. Before departing, she turned to face him, giving him a soft and guilty look (it really wasn't her fault), "Thanks for all your help, Mr. Agreste." She leapt away on her jump-rope.

Adrien shakily turned to face Nathalie, her cold and calm stare rested on him and it was wrecking his nerves.

"I'm not a fool, Adrien." Nathalie sighed, "your father won't be very happy."

"But Nathalie...I-I didn't do anything wrong. Superheroes do drop by civilians' houses if they need help sometimes." Adrien meekly protested.

"That's not what they should be doing. It is their job to protect civilians, not the other way around." Nathalie continued, "Also, are you implying that they've been more superheroes in here without my knowledge?"

" _No!_ " Adrien yelped. _It wasn't exactly a lie_ , "This was a first. She just needed some guidance."

"Cosying up with a superhero is now called guidance? Interesting." She quirked her brow a him.

"I wasn't cosying up with her!" Adrien shrieked, the tips of his of his ears red.

"Really, so you say, Adrien, that sitting on the same seat with your hands on her isn't intimate?" Nathalie said not-so-jokingly.

"It was a friendly gesture. That's all it was. I swear we were just talking."

"I believe you, Adrien." Nathalie said. _She did?_ "Though, who knows if it could've been more than talking if I haven't come in."

"It wouldn't have." Adrien protested. _They were just friends. He wasn't like that._

"You may believe that, Adrien. But your age is quite a complicated one, I've been there too, remember." Nathalie said, avoiding eye-contact. As a sense of nostalgia glistened in her eyes.

"I won't be telling your father about this." _Adrien almost sighed in relief but..._

"However," _There it was,_ "I will make ensure that your schedule and security measures are strengthened. Like for example, those windows won't be open past 6pm. You won't be seeing anything through them."

"So, you're saying that you'll keep bars over the windows! Making me feel like a prisoner?" Adrien yelled for real this time, fighting off shivers as memories from Sandboy flashed through his head.

"It's for your own good, Adrien." Nathalie assured him. And it wasn't very assuring.

"I don't see other parents putting bars on their children's windows for their good." Adrien huffed crossing his arms.

"Adrien, your life is not as simple as the other children your age." Nathalie said in her warning tone, "Someday, you'll understand..."

Nathalie went to close that open window and strut out of there. A few moments after she left, those heavy metal bars started crashing down his windows, blocking out the colourful hues of the sunset. All he saw was darkness, shady darkness, he couldn't...

His legs couldn't take it before as he let out a shaky breath and collapsed onto the floor, leaning against his piano, he buried his head in his hands.

"Adrien...are you okay?" Plagg's voice peeped out from his shoulder.

"No...I'm not okay, Plagg! Why does my life have to be like this? Why do they have to so controlling?" He scrunched the strands of his golden locks with his fingers, "Why?"

He felt like throwing something. He really did. So, he took one of the pens his father had given him and tossed it onto the bars. Blue ink stained them, but he didn't care. _He just hated feeling trapped..._

"Here have some cheese. It'll make you feel better." Plagg said handing him a piece of Camembert. Usually, he would've denied but that was the least of his problems right now...

Adrien took the piece of Camembert and stuffed it into his mouth. The reeking taste of the cheese overtook his emotions and senses.

"Thank you, Plagg. I feel much better."

"See, that's why you should have a piece every day. My stinky cheese does have its benefits." He claimed stuffing more Camembert into his mouth comically, Adrien chuckled at his goofiness. _Having a kwami friend had its benefits._

* * *

When Nathalie said security measures, she was serious, now, his bodyguard was tailing him everywhere in school. The gorilla wasn't allowed into class but the fact that he was following him only made him feel more restricted, more out of place, his celebrity status shadowing over him as students stared...

Moreover, this also made things for Cat Noir difficult. He'd now have to come up with multiple washroom excuses to go and transform, he'd probably have to escape through ventilators so no one could spot him...

It was exhausting, he couldn't keep up with this lack of freedom. School was meant to be his get-away, how was he meant to feel free with his bodyguard always shadowing him. His own room was even more closeted than before ( _thank you bedroom bars!_ ).

Nino was apprehensive about his bodyguard, and so was Kagami, both were curious on why there was this new level of security. He shrugged them off, not really wanting to talk about a superhero they didn't know about...even if they knew who she was in real life...

Marinette was clearly nervous around him. She was acting like she'd used to. It was frustrating for her as he could clearly see she wanted to talk so many unspoken words but couldn't. That was the thing that sucked about having double identities. Besides, she didn't really need to say anything. He was the one that invited her in, dismissing the strict household he had, it wasn't her fault that any of this happened. Adrien had to face the consequences of his actions alone.

He sat in the edge of the courtyard staring dimly at their classmates playing football. Their PE teacher wasn't there so they could play whatever they wanted, Adrien chose to sit this one out, he really wasn't in the mood. It was better sulking when his bodyguard wasn't around...

"H-Hey." The familiar timid voice reached his ears, as he turned to his side to see a pair of bluebell eyes on him.

"Are you alright? Y-you seem a bit down." Marinette asked shakily, as she perched herself next to him on the bench.

"I'm fine." Adrien lied staring down at his feet.

"You're clearly not. I can see it. Please let me help." Marinette pleaded, her voice was tinted with something else though. It was _guilt_. Why was she blaming herself? It wasn't her fault.

"No, I'm fine, thank you for being so thoughtful." He said staring into her widened eyes gravely as her cheeks flushed.

"Please, Adrien. Don't shut yourself away. I want to help." Marinette voice took into that same pleading tone, she was being genuine, "I don't like seeing you in pain."

His heart quivered at that. Another shaky breath came out. Nobody would ever say deep words like that to him. _Why did she? Why was she so thoughtful? What had he done to deserve her?_

"I-I- "Adrien balled his hands into fists as he exhaled shakily once again, "I'm not too good about talking about this. It's always been my weak spot."

"It'll stay weak spot if you don't let it out." _Her words were genuine._

"S-S-So _oo."_ Shivers ran up his spine. His hand automatically reached to grab something close. That close thing would be _her hand_.

He heard her gasp at the contact, and he would've pulled away. But the warmth of her hand was addictive. It was a painkiller to his intense emotions.

"Is it okay if I hold your hand like this?" He asked secretly hoping that she'd accept.

"Y-yeah. I don't mind." She said, warmth brushing her cheeks as she smiled.

"Okay then." He deeply exhaled again, "Marinette, my life has always been very restricting. I was home-schooled for most of my life and I barely had any other friends before this year. I'm glad that I finally get to go to school this year and make some friends. But my household's never been the same ever since my mother disappeared..." he anxiously bit his lip.

Marinette must've sensed his tension, as she gently squeezed his hand, a thrill of electricity passed through him. He gave her a warm smile to show he was ready to speak again.

"They control my every action. I can't do normal things like other kids would. I get my status; I know that being Adrien Agreste is not easy. But sometimes I feel they go too far. They lack faith in me, they don't let me speak for myself. Their overprotectiveness always shadows me. If I do something that might not exactly be in their rulebook, they toughen things up, and they end up blaming me and other people for the most random things even if we did nothing wrong. They end up adding more security, they continue to restrict me even when they know that I'm claustrophobic and I hate being isolated and locked up. It's- "He groaned and slapped his other hand to his forehead, "I'm sorry for being such a mess, Marinette. You must think I'm overreacting."

"No, you're not." She placed her other hand around his, "You can't control your emotions. It's okay to feel frustrated, Adrien. I would say something about your situation, I really would but it's not really my place to judge as I'm not too sure about the whole picture. But, Adrien, next time you feel lonely or upset, promise me that you'll talk to someone about it. You know I'm just one call away, I'll always be there to help you if you need it. Never doubt that. And if your family situation does get _too far_ , know that you'll always have a friend to back you up."

"Thank you, Marinette. That's so thoughtful of you as always." Adrien gave her a smile and squeezed her hand back. _He felt so much better now._

"Do you promise?" Marinette quirked her brow.

"I do." He nodded.

"Say the words!" She said all pouty as he laughed.

"Okay...fine." He reached to hold her other hand with his free hand as he turned himself towards her, "I promise you that I'll talk to someone whenever I'm feeling sad and lonely. Are you happy?"

"Yes." She said giving him one of her wonderful smiles as she squeezed both his hands with hers. Everything became fluttery as their smiles stretched out into each other's eyes.

"Adrien, I- "That's when he spotted the ball whooshing their way and it was about to strike them in the face!

"WATCH OUT!" Adrien warned as he shoved them to the side as they toppled over each other.

"SORRY!" Kim shouted as he came to retrieve the ball. He didn't sound too sorry, as Kim gave them a quick wink.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he helped Marinette up.

"I'm fine." She said, "Are you? And I'm not talking about the fall."

"I- "He gave her a gentle smile, "I feel much better. Thanks, Marinette."

"Anything for a friend." She gave him one last squeeze from their still entwined hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, we're just pretending to believe they're friends.


	5. Statue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short Chapter!

"Hey! What are you doing all alone here?"

Marinette jumped at the blonde's familiar voice.

"Oh, nothing!" She chuckled, dodging the question completely "I was trying to figure out whether this was a statue or not." She teased pointing at the Adrien wax figure. _Had they really come to the point where they could joke about this?_

Adrien's cheeks greatly darkened at that; he began to anxiously fiddle with his ring. _Oh wow...that's great! She was making things awkward again. Ugh...why was she so bad at this! And just a day ago, she was holding his hand! Without things getting weird! Uh...wait...she shouldn't be gushing about this! Not when he had a girlfriend...talk about why she was here again..._

"You're not still mad, are you?" Adrien finally asked.

"What? No! Of course not! We've established that already." She should really stop using her exaggerated voice on him, it was never too convincing, as he still had that strained look on his face.

"I'm fine about it. Trust me." She assured him with her gentle voice, "there's nothing to worry about. If I was angry about it, I would've told you. We've come too far to still be angry on things like this." _They had._

His features relaxed, as he gave her one of his soft smiles ( _She loved his smi-no-Marinette, stop gushing over him. This is not what moving on is)._

"Why don't you come along at join the rest of us then?" Adrien offered.

It was the unveiling of the new superhero wax figures today. They already had Ladybug and Cat Noir. So, they were unveiling the rest of the wielders including Mayura (excluding Bunnyx, Multimouse and Aspik _obviously_ ). All their friends had come gathered to see the unveiling. _So, why was she here hiding?_

Well, she hadn't really seen Adrien and Kagami together ever since the Miracle Queen battle. And now, that she did see them together, she didn't feel like she could handle it yet. She knew that it was selfish, she really did. But she just needed some time to adjust to their relationship.

"Um...I'll be there in a couple of minutes. No need to worry, alright." She assured him once again.

"You sure?" He asked her in his adorable concerned voice.

"Yes, I'm sure." She smiled softly at him.

* * *

Adrien made his way back to the crowd of people. He's bodyguard helped him get back to the front with Nathalie, Kagami and Tomoe.

"Where's Marinette?" Kagami asked him.

"She'll be here soon." He nodded whilst glancing at the media who were snapping pictures of them from the side whispering stuff about _'Adrien Agreste and his girlfriend'_.

"You probably should calm the media down before we start the unveiling." Nathalie surprisingly said, "Let them ask you a few questions, take Kagami with you."

"Uh...okay." _She was eager to put his relationship in the spotlight. Must be brand publicity._

Before he could go up to the media however, a loud voice thundered over them.

"I'm Sculptor. And I will take revenge on those who fired me. Like me now! Do you?" A man wearing a strange costume boomed as he started zapping people into statues. _An akuma...how great...now he just had to find a way to escape from Nathalie and Gorilla._

* * *

Marinette stared longingly at the wax statue. She should be going back now but.... _she wished that day that she hadn't lied about her feelings when she confessed to his 'statue'. So that now, she wouldn't have to pick up the pieces, embarrass herself, and confess again when he was already taken. She wasn't going to confess for the sake of a bet. But in these 12 days, she was going to confess for the sake of herself. She needed to get out of this lovesick trauma._

Loud crashes interrupted her thoughts; she jumped and turned to the side. Oh...look...it was a man in strange clothing turning people into statues, seriously, how normal has that become?

She hid behind a couple of statues as she observed the villain in action. He sort of reminded her of Desperada, and she wasn't an easy opponent. The Snake Miraculous would be perfect for this battle. However, she was still wary to use Viperion as Hawk Moth knew his identity now. She couldn't endanger Luka like that.

But maybe her first pick may come in handy today and yes...this was going to be difficult for her. However, all that mattered was the battle, and she needed to do what was right to protect the miraculous. Responsibility over feelings was always the right thing to do. She just needed to trust her instincts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ik. This was quite simple. But I needed to set the stage for future chapters.


	6. Aspik and Marinette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien! Trust yourself!

Aspik was _confused_. He was very confused.

Currently, he was tackling Sculptor all by himself as he waited for Ladybug to go and recharge. He should've rejected the miraculous, he really should've, he knew that he'd be a hundred times more useful as Cat Noir than as Aspik. But he couldn't just say no without a valid reason! Besides, Ladybug was quite _convincing_...

"WATCH OUT!" He said shoving someone behind a display that came crumbling down due to Sculptor's attacks.

That _someone_ was Marinette. Suddenly, his protective instincts kicked in. She was dazed as he helped her up to her feet and pushed her behind him.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Y-yeah." She said with her cheeks red.

"Where are Ladybug and Cat Noir, you slithering thing? I want _their_ miraculous!" Sculptor roared as he tried to zap them into statues, he quickly dodged the attack, pushing Marinette with him as they rolled off to the side toppled over each other again.

"I'm not letting you escape! Maybe Ladybug and Cat Noir will show up once their superhero friend looks good in wax!" Sculptor aimed another shot at them, Adrien quickly sprang to his feet taking Marinette in his hands as he sped away.

"He's quick." She commented. And she was right. He didn't even have time to take Marinette to safety as this villain was on his heels all the time. He also could've contacted Ladybug if he didn't have him chasing them constantly...and Grevin's didn't have much hiding places.

"I know. I hope Ladybug shows up quick before he turns me into wax!" _How long was recharging taking?_

"Cat Noir too."

"Yeah. Though, I haven't really seen him around yet." _Oh...he so wondered why..._

She nodded as she looked over his shoulder at the villain trying to zap them. He was struggling to keep up with this chase...

"You're?"

"Aspik." He said proudly, he didn't know why, "I use the same miraculous as Viperion but I'm not needed that much, it's my first proper fight, I'm kind of like a rejected hero."

"You're not being rejected now." She said smiling to look up at him, he returned it, "If I recall, your miraculous can revisit situations from 5 minutes in the past giving you a 'second chance' to fix whatever happened?"

"Yes. You got that right." He said leaping to the side to dodge another attack.

"Wouldn't it be handy to tussle and try to capture the akuma somehow, by the time, Ladybug comes to de-evilise it?" Marinette suggested. _She had a point but..._

"I'm not sure if I can do it..." He may be Cat Noir, but he never had a fight without Ladybug. How was he supposed to do it now, with a miraculous he struggled wielding.

"You can." She assured him, "I believe you can."

"You don't know me." He stated the untrue words that she once did. He very well understood why she said them.

"But I know that Ladybug must've chose you for a reason. Trust that reason. I may not be a superhero, but I do know that heroes do whatever it takes to do their duties. So, do whatever it takes to prove to yourself that you are a hero." Those wise words were ironic, but they were very true.

"You're right. I need to do this." _H_ e _glanced up at the villain and tried to act all Ladybug. The Sculptor was zapping them with odd tools. He doubted that the akuma was in any of those tools. But...the badge he was wearing was rather off-colour from the rest of his suit, it stood out too much. It would make sense if that was where the akuma was._

"His akuma should be in his badge. I just don't know how to reach up to it."

"I agree. I have an idea, you might not like it, but I think you need all the help you can get..."

"What do you have in mind?"

* * *

After a lot of dodging attacks and debating about Marinette's plan, it was risky, and it might not work but he finally agreed to it. Probably the only reason he agreed to it was that he had a miraculous that could reverse an event if anything went wrong, otherwise it wouldn't have been in exception.

It was time he played out Marinette's scheme, he was still worried how it would play out though.

"Second Chance!" He began 5-minute reversal scheme began as he 'accidently' tripped over something and dropped Marinette.

As Marinette had predicted, Sculptor came and grabbed her in instant. Despite that this was part of their plan, Adrien's heart still clenched in fury.

"I will turn her into wax if you don't get me _both_ Ladybug and Cat Noir!" Sculptor cackled pointing one of his tools at Marinette.

"Okay. Okay, I will!" Adrien said raising his arms as he morphed his lyre into a phoning device, he contacted Ladybug and pretended to contact Cat Noir, then he stuck too Marinette's plan...

'Lucky Charm!' The recording played. They had decided to keep voice recordings for all the heroes ever since Silencer. _Please, please work._

Sculptor gazed around searching for the source of the voice as Marinette reached up to try and grab his badge.

Unfortunately for them, she was too late, as Sculptor grabbed her hand and threw one of the tools, zapping her into a statue.

Adrien would've screamed if it hadn't been for his miraculous...he reset his wristband.

* * *

'Lucky Charm!' The recording played again.

This time when the recording played, Aspik threw his lyre at Sculptor aiming for the perfect target.

It hit Sculptor's face as Marinette grabbed the badge and stabbed it with one of his tools, the akuma fluttered out and she grabbed it with one of her hands shielding it from going anywhere. Sculptor was de-akumatized into his usual self with that look of confusion on his face _they all had_.

"Are you alright?" He rushed up to Marinette grabbing her arms.

"Yeah...I'm fine." She placed the akuma in his hands, her warm hand brushed against his gloved one as he held the butterfly.

"I saw you turn into statue the first time. It wasn't pleasant." He shuddered. The Snake was a daunting power, how did Luka do it?

"I'm fine now...you saved me, I told you, you deserve to be a hero." She gave him her soft smile that made his insides tingle.

"T-thank you." He stuttered as he felt the soft shivers of his heart...wait... _what?_

"I need to go find my friends now." She pulled away from his grasp, "I'm sure Ladybug will be here soon, hero!" The name made his heart stutter as she winked and scurried away.

Even with a butterfly of horror in his hand, he could do nothing but feel positive...

_She was a hero without the suit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the best akuma battle I've written...
> 
> Also, I don't believe that holding akumas could akumatize you. 
> 
> Especially if you're feeling positive.


	7. Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obliviously lovesick <3

An envelope and a present lay on his bed when he came back from fencing that day. _Huh...how did they get there? Who sent them?_

He had half the mind to ask Nathalie, but he figured that wouldn't be a good idea. If she knew, she would've told him, also, he didn't want his life to get even more closeted!

"What should I open first? The letter or the gift?" He asked Plagg a bit stupidly.

"You know, it's probably just more fan-mail. Fan-mail without any _cheese_." Plagg grumbled.

"I don't think it's fan-mail, I usually get a stash of them all together, unless there was another postal strike and Ladybug decided to drop this by. Which is not very likely."

"Just quit dawdling and open your _cheese-less_ gifts already, would you?"

Adrien took the envelope in his hand and unsealed it. _The letter was quite long...well...longer than anything his fans gave him:_

_Dear Adrien,_

_I'm so sorry for what went down with Nathalie the other day. I didn't want you to get in trouble, I really didn't. It's been bugging me the past few days, it really has, I know that you'll say that it's not my fault and I shouldn't feel guilty about it. But I just can't stop blaming myself. I guess that's because I feel it's unfair that you should suffer when I was the one that entered your room. It'd be better if I was suffering with you, or even better none of us was facing the consequences, as we did nothing wrong. But the odds were against us, I wish I could help you somehow, I wish I could. My hands are however tied, all I could do was send you this gift as an apology. You might think it's unnecessary but please let me do this. Let me apologise, it'd make me feel much better knowing that I did something that makes you feel happy. At least, I hope it does...please let me pay my debt to you._

_Yours sincerely, Multimouse._

"Oooo...nice love letter." Plagg cooed mockingly as Adrien cheeks went red.

"It's not a love letter, it's just Marinette being sweet and thoughtful as always."

"You should've heard the sappiness in your voice. _It's just Marinette being sweet and thoughtful as always_." Plagg imitated in an over-the-top voice as he began to cackle. Adrien ignored him.

He began to open the present, tearing the blue wrapping paper off and opening the lid of the box inside.

_Passionfruit macarons._ His favourite. If he hadn't known that she was Marinette already, her identity would've gone out of the box at this one.

_'It's no biggie. There will be tons of other macarons, I mean, occasions.'_

Adrien chuckled as her words crossed his mind. _Tons of other macarons, alright._

"Oi...why are you laughing and smiling like an idiot. Give me some of those macarons already!"

"I thought you didn't like _cheese-less_ presents?"

"I prefer cheese. But anything with food is alright...I suppose." Plagg shrugged as he dug into a couple of macarons.

Adrien tried some himself. _They were delicious. But the Dupain-Cheng treats were always good. Plus, she made this herself! He could taste her handiwork...wait...that sounded wrong. Uh...he just knew that she made it._

Humans had the habit to reciprocate the gesture of gifts and letters to someone they cared about, and Adrien felt like doing the same.

"Plagg, what am I going to gift Marinette now?"

"Huh?" Plagg said with his face buried in a macaron.

"I want to give her something too with a heartfelt letter."

"Oh boy...the cycle is going to go on and on." Plagg groaned, "You'll go back and forth giving gifts and gifts to each other, just like that, and by the end of the month, you'll be exchanging kisses, ugh."

"Plagg! It's not like that." Adrien buried his face in a pillow, "these are just _friendly_ letters and gifts."

"Right. I'll pretend that I believe you." Plagg said sarcastically as Adrien ignored him again, "How are you going to deliver it anyways." He pointed to the bars on his window.

"I'll go through the bathroom." _Stupid bars!_ "But I still have to write my letter and think of a great gift idea. I want it to mean something. Like she gave me my favourite macarons, and she made them herself. I want my gift to be just as meaningful. Also, it'd be me returning her gift without her knowing it's me."

"Oh boy...which role are you going to play?" Plagg asked.

"The one that makes sense." He smirked.

* * *

_Dear Marinette,_

_I'd like to thank you for helping me out on the akuma attack at Grevin's. I couldn't have done it without your advice and help. The first time I became Aspik, things didn't really go down that well. I was stuck in a Second Chance loop for ages, I tried to fix things up, but it never worked out. I thought I would never be able to wield the miraculous again. So, when Ladybug presented the Snake Miraculous to me again, I was so scared to wield it. I was afraid I would mess up all over again. That was mainly why I was so hesitant about your plan. The first chance, when you turned into a statue, I was terrified, terrified that I wouldn't be able to save you again. In the second go, I was relieved that we did it. I thought that I was going to face a thousand more loops to get us out of the mess. I want to thank you for helping me believe in myself again, thank you for supporting me even when I was unsure of myself. Here's a little something to express my gratitude. Hope you'll like it_ _😊_

_From,_

_Aspik_

Marinette hugged the letter to her chest, her heart fluttering rhythmically.

"Why does he have to be so kind, Tikki?" Marinette sighed.

"You gave him a present too, remember!"

"Yeah...but he didn't know it was me." She replied as she began to tear the pink wrapping paper off his gift.

He gave her a CD. A music CD more specifically. The YMCA music CD. She remembered it from the party at his house. The CD was a limited version! Also, there was a note attached to it:

_This CD was the favourite of someone very important to me. She's not here any longer but hopefully you'll enjoy listening to it._

Marinette melted at the implications of his words as she collapsed into her bed hugging both the CD and the letter.

"He gave me his mother's CD..." She repeated blandly as she stared at the ceiling, "How could I accept this?"

"Keep it safe with you then. He must really like you if he gave you something that close to his heart." Tikki smiled at her.

"I-I- "Warmth tackled Marinette's cheeks as she tussled with the million questions coming at her, "Tikki, just play the CD would you."

"Sure." Tikki took the CD and buzzed off to her music player, inserting it inside. The music drifted in the surroundings, Marinette closed her eyes peacefully as she hummed along with the music.

For now, she'd sit here and hyperventilate, and deal with the consequences later. However, she had a feeling that everything was going to be fine. Just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might as well change the name of the prompt to 'Letters and Gifts'  
> XD.  
> Also, Plagg is me with food : )


	8. Hair Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> <3

Marinette felt the tap on her shoulder as she abruptly spun around to welcome the intruder of her slumbering thoughts.

"Hey." He said, his emerald green eyes were pierced on her, "Why didn't you let your hair down before? You look beautiful. Not that you didn't before."

Her face heated up at his words, she hid her blushing face in the loose strands of her hair. There was a reason she'd never let her hair down then.

"Come on, Let's go!" Her heart raced as he took her hand, dragging her along with him. She could feel the warmth of his entwined hand, it made her feel fuzzy. The sun scorching down on them suddenly felt brighter as she stared at him running in front of her. She didn't know where they were going but little did he know that she would go anywhere in the world with him.

He suddenly paused in his footsteps as he turned his head towards her and gave her one of his gentle smiles. There was those smiles that would always make her heart leap, she swore that the blood would gush through her arteries much quicker.

"Close your eyes." The calm tone of his voice pleaded.

"W-What?" Her voice breathed in befuddlement as he took her other hand in his, as he looked down at her pleadingly.

"You trust me, right?" The sun fell in dapples on his face as she could feel the authentic stare of his eyes fixed at her.

"Always." She said without a moment of doubt, as her eyes fluttered shut. _He was the boy she fell in love with. And she trusted him with all her life._

She felt him drag her along as her feet scraped off the warm sand and the hot summer breeze brushed over her face. It was usually odd to go somewhere without knowing where you were going. But as long as his hand was in hers, she knew that she was safe.

A little way ahead, she felt herself being seated down on something soft, she carefully crossed her legs as she felt the sound of the heavy breeze grew heavier. They were somewhere near water.

"You can open your eyes now." His voice sounded in her ears and her eyes fluttered open.

The chirping of the evening bird's flight reached her ears as her gasp echoed in sync with the silent melody of the Seine waters. The golden sun was setting, spreading the sky with a symphony of warm colours: red, orange and pink, no clouds, no people, it was perfect and beautiful.

Her eyes whipped to him, he sat in front of her bashfully, he rubbed his neck. It was an anxious habit of his.

"Do you like it?" He asked almost childishly as hope and thrill glistened in his eyes. It was cute.

"I love it." She replied squeezing his warm hand. Their entangled hands rested on the blanket between them. The moment felt perfect. It felt right. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Find this beautiful place. There's not a single person around. Don't places like this crave for publicity?" _If this place was well-known, the public would eat up its beauty. But it was just the two of them._

"I have my ways." He cattishly smirked down at her, "Besides, finding beauty in the world is not that hard." He glanced right at her, he leaned forward to whisper something in her ear, "I found you."

Her heart pounded loudly in her chest, as a blush bloomed on her face. He was so close that she was sure he sensed it. Futile as it was, she still brushed a few strands of her hair on her face.

He chuckled at her, as he used his other hand to gently stroke the hair off her face. Beaming down at her, he cupped his hand to her cheek. Her head angled closer towards him. The racing of her heart passed its comprehensible rate as they leaned closer toward each other. She was so close to him that their noses bumped together, upon command, both fluttered their eyes closed. His lips were mere centimetres away from her own...

"Marinette! Marinette!" Her best friend's voice echoed in her ears....wait...what?

"Wake up! Miss. Bustier has called your name three times already!"

She groggily opened her eyes, and blinked a several times, letting out a huge yawn.

Abruptly, she froze as she realised that all eyes in the room were fixated at her. Oh god, she had fallen asleep in class again!

Her eyes shifted to the boy seated in front of her who was giving her a warm smile. Her cheeks went red as she realised what she was dreaming about. No! No! No! She wouldn't be able to stay put around him now! Not with that dream in her head!

"upain-Cheng, Marinette! Dupain-Cheng, Marinette! MARINETTE!" She sprung up to her feet as she realised that the teacher had called her name thrice already since she woke up. So, in total, her name had been called six times now. That was one way to stay stuck on one student's name on the register.

"P-present." She squeaked out raising her hand as her face grew redder. The whole class's silent chuckles turned into bursts of laughter as Miss. Bustier shook her head at Marinette's antics. She was pretty much used to them by now.

Marinette sunk low in her seat as she buried her face on her desk. She might as well go into it.

Stupid akumas. Stupid sleep. _Stupid dreams!_ It was like the dream had taken place inside a completely _alternate universe_. More like an _alternate timeline_. Also, Adrien was dating Kagami for weeks now. _She can't still have dreams like this and wish they were real. But it seemed so realistic._

She peeped her head out and glanced down at the blonde who was talking with Nino. Her heart ached as visions of the dream spurred through her head. Dreams were supposed to be fazed, blurry and focused on innermost feelings. Remembering what the dream was about was almost impossible for a human. But this dream was so vivid, almost like it was an actual memory, more like a long-forgotten one... _No, that was impossible!_ She would know if it happened, and what happened was near-to-impossible, there was no way that could've happened. _It would have to be a completely different universe for it to happen. It would never happen in her own world._

Adrien's eyes slowly drifted towards her, she awkwardly jumped to sit straight, a sheepish smile on her face. Despite being caught staring, he smiled at her.

"Hey! You should let your hair down more often. You look beautiful." His smile stretched into her eyes.

_Wha-What?_ A hint of _deja-vu_ hit her with the budding blush on her face. She reached up to tease the loose locks of her hair. She must've forgotten to tie her hair in the morning.

"Th-thank y-you." She stuttered. Something she hadn't done in front of him for a long time, as warmth gushed over her. She reciprocated his smile. They were stuck in some sort of magical trance.

"Page thirty-four, please everyone. We've wasted enough time already." Miss. Bustier's voice broke the trance as Adrien reached out to grab his tablet from the bag.

Marinette, who was still dreamily smiling at him, reached up to her bag and unfocusedly trailed her fingers through the edges of her books. _No! No! Stop, Marinette! This is bad. It is bad._

She shook her head as she pulled her tablet out, tightening her lips, and trying to avoid her eyes from going back to the blonde boy.

Alya nudged her elbow as she fiddled with the tablet, "What was that?" Alya asked beckoning at Adrien.

"I- "She hesitated. Contemplating all the answers in her head, figuring out which was the right one to say. In the end, she felt none of them were right, "I don't know." She stared back into her tablet.

"Look, Marinette, whatever you do, please don't get yourself hurt, okay." Alya pleaded, concern threaded her voice.

"Not again. Please make the choice that makes you happy. Don't get yourself hurt."

Her eyes briefly flickered over to Adrien. The thing was, there were multiple choices that would make her happy, but none of them felt right. And she'd rather not do anything that was wrong. It wasn't her.

"I will, Alya. Someday..." She gazed back to her best friend, "I will know what to do."

_She will find both the right and happy choice. She knew she would. Until then..._

_She had multiple warring thoughts to face. And it wasn't going to be easy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any interesting thoughts about this chapter ; )  
> I know I got you good...


	9. Alternate Timeline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crazy akuma messes things up?

Dazed and dizzy, Marinette's eyes quivered open. _What just happened?_

She found herself wrapped inside her cosy pink bed wearing her pyjamas.

_Odd._ She could've sworn that she was fighting an akuma, and she couldn't recall herself going to bed that night either.

"Tikki. Tikki, are you there?" Marinette shook her head around for signs of her kwami.

"Tikki, where are you?" Marinette climbed down her bed calling for her kwami, as she frantically searched the room.

"Tikki!" She yelped seeing a little red figure lying on the desk. _She appeared to be asleep._

"Psst. Tikki." Marinette whispered kneeling down on the floor beside her kwami as she poked her stomach, "Wake up!"

The kwami winced as she rolled to the side, slowly opening her eyes.

"W-what? W-what h-happened?" Tikki said looking a bit dazed, "Weren't you fighting an akuma as Ladybug?"

"I was. How did I get here? I barely remember what happened in the attack, my memories are all groggy." Marinette anxiously scratched her head. _She remembered fighting the villain, but she couldn't seem to remember the details. The fight felt like a dream, with only fuzzy flashes and the sensation of fighting the villain, but other than that, the rest was drained out. Plus, the fight couldn't be a dream, right? Tikki wouldn't have known about it then?_

"Marinette!" Her mother's familiar voice echoed through the room, "Are you up yet? You should be getting ready to school!"

"Uh-yes-Maman! I will!" Marinette turned back to Tikki, "For now, we'll go with the flow, and hopefully we'll be able to figure out what's going on."

Marinette scurried downstairs and took some croissants, she was about to leave for school when her dad's voice stopped her.

"Marinette? Where are you going? Don't you usually wait for Adrien so the two of you can go to school together?"

"A-adrien?" Marinette spun around at the sound of his name, "I don't walk to school with him."

"Are you two okay, honey? You aren't in a fight with him, right? I've noticed you've tied your hair in pigtails again." Her mom jumped in.

"What-no! We're fine! And I always tie my hair in pigtails." Marinette debated as Tom and Sabine exchanged nervous glances. _Why were they doing that? Seriously, what did this akuma do?_

"Okay, we believe you, dear. But if something is bothering you, please do tell us, we're here to help." Tom assured.

"Y-yeah. Fine. I will." Marinette said smiling as she quirked her brow up in confusion, "Bye. Love you." She gave them kisses on the cheek and rushed away.

"That was weird."

"It's still not enough to piece through what's gone wrong." Tikki replied.

"Yeah, we'll see if everything's normal at school too, okay?"

* * *

_Everything was not normal._ The first thing Marinette heard from Alya when she approached school was...

"Hey, girl! Why aren't you here with Adrien? Why's your hair tied up again? Are you two in a fight?"

"No...why does everyone keep saying that?" Marinette seated herself beside Alya, "Plus, I always come to school alone and tie my hair in pigtails!"

Alya blinked at her in disbelief.

"So, you're not in a fight with Adrien?"

"No, I'm not in a fight with him." _Why was she asking her the same question again?_

"Then why are you not sitting in your usual seat, it's Thursday." Alya went into her reporter mode, quirking her brow.

"This is my usual seat."

"Not on Thursdays."

"I sit here every day!" _God, this was getting tiring._

There was an awkward pause between them which included Marinette pouting at Alya whilst Alya inspected her like she was a foreign object.

"Marinette..." Alya switched to her soft concerned voice as she put her hand on Marinette's elbow, "If you did have a fight with Adrien, you don't need to hide it from me. Plus, you're terrible with hiding secrets anyways. Things like this happen between people, and sometimes you need to talk it out, girl! Especially with your BFF."

"For the last time, Alya..." Marinette shrugged off Alya's hand, "I did not have a fight with Adrien."

In that very perfect moment, Adrien and Nino entered the classroom. _She had to see whether it was just Alya and her parents or it was everyone else too._

"See for yourself?" Marinette turned to Adrien, "H-hi, Adrien." _Screw that stutter that was coming back._

"Hey, Marinette. How are you?" Adrien chirped as he took his seat in front of her, whilst Alya and Nino gave them strange looks.

"Fine, I guess. Though, I am being interrogated with some strange questions." Marinette twitched her eye at Alya.

"Oddly enough, I've faced the same fate as you." Adrien turned to Nino, "Care to explain."

And this was the moment were a very Alya and Nino exchanged similar looks of befuddlement.

"That was not your usual greeting, are you two okay?" Alya yelped.

"Our usual greeting?" This time Marinette and Adrien exchanged looks, "What do you mean by that?"

"You guys were acting more like dudes and dudettes." Nino said as if that clarified everything. But that clarified nothing whatsoever!

"We are dudes and dudettes." Adrien replied a bit confused, "What else do you think we are?"

"Please tell me this a joke." Alya wailed in frustration, "You guys have been dating for months now!"

"WHAT?! Marinette and Adrien squealed, their faces going red, "Wha-No-We're j-just f-friends?!"

They said at the same time with awkward smiles as their best friends looked at them like they've lost it.

"Are you okay?" Alya asked, "You guys haven't gone amnesiac or something, right?"

"No. I think w-we're fine." Adrien replied.

"I think otherwise. If you guys, don't believe us, you can ask anyone here. Literally." Nino suggested as Alya nodded.

"Hey, Rose!" Alya called out, "What do you say about Adrien and Marinette's relationship."

"Oh...you guys are just the cutest!" Rose gushed as Adrien and Marinette blushed, "Ever since you became a couple, everything's been so clear between the two of you. I remember the days where Marinette would constantly chase after Adrien, and I can't believe that you two are finally the thing." _Everything made no sense except the last part, and did she have to say the last part RIGHT IN FRONT OF ADRIEN?! Hopefully, he won't think much about it._

"See...do you think Rose would lie?" _She wouldn't, it wasn't like her to lie but..._

"Not if she was hit by an akuma." Marinette argued as Adrien nodded. Alya and Nino stared at them even more frantically at that.

"Dudette, there hasn't been an akuma for weeks! Hawk Moth was defeated weeks ago?"

"He was?" Adrien quirked a brow at him. Marinette blinked in confusion... _wait..._ she might have a slight hunch what was happening...

"And you know exactly who he was revealed to be, right?" Alya stated eyeing them very sternly and anxiously like she feared the person's name.

_There's a time for everything and time is a fragile thing._ Bunnyx's voice echoed in her head. If her hunch was true, she and Adrien needed to get out of here right that instant...

"Um...wait a second...we need to be excused." Marinette frantically grabbed a hold of Adrien's hand and dragged him out of the classroom, as a pair of baffled eyes followed her.

When they were far enough from people, she let go of his hand and faced him. _This was a serious matter and being Ladybug and the guardian, she needed to deal with it in the right way._

"Is there any chance you saw an akuma, and then the next moment you knew it, you were back in your bed this morning?" Marinette asked him.

"Actually yes." Adrien widened his eyes, "I do remember there being an akuma but I don't remember exactly what happened and how I got to my room that morning."

"The same thing happened with me...if I'm right, then the two of us were hit by that akuma?!"

"And?"

"Look...it's just a hunch but it would make sense...the villain must've had time powers, and when we got hit, he somehow brought us into an alternate timeline, I know it sounds crazy- "

"But it makes perfect sense!" Adrien acknowledged, "That's really ingenious of you, Marinette."

"Thank you." Marinette blushed. She could've slapped herself on the head right there and then. _Focus!_

"So, if we're in an alternate timeline..." Adrien pondered, "That means in our timeline, there's..."

"Us from this timeline!" Marinette finished, "Exactly. Hopefully, they...I mean...we don't mess up things in our timeline."

"Well, technically, they are 'us', right? They should have the same sense of wits as us."

"Hopefully..." Marinette nodded. _This timeline was like her dream. Where everything was perfect, and she was dating Adrien here. She didn't want her perfect self to mess up things in her current life._

"What do we do now then?" Adrien questioned.

"Hmmm...A friend once told me that there's a time for everything and that time was a fragile thing."

"Well...that's an interesting thing to say."

"She's an interesting friend." Marinette gave him a half-smile, "So, basically, in this timeline, Hawk Moth was defeated already and there's no akumas anymore, we can't just say that we're from a different timeline and an akuma brought us here. That would ruin things. Like, we can't know anything here that might affect our future in our own timelines, so we'd have to stay in character."

"Stay in character? Hmm...so you mean that...we act like how we are supposed to act in this timeline until Ladybug and Cat Noir get here?"

"Yeah. We can't mess up time." _She'd somehow have to find a way to escape and go hunt for the akuma later._

"Does that mean we have to pretend that we're- "

"Yeah." Marinette interrupted blushing, "We have to pretend that we're a couple for the sake of this timeline. You don't mind, right?"

"No, I don't. Do you?" Marinette wished she could read the expression on his face, but it was just so Adrien that she couldn't exactly make out what was possibly going around in his mind...

"N-no. I'm fine. Though, of course, there's our limitations." _Sad as it was, she couldn't kiss him even if she wanted to. In their timeline, he was still a taken man._

"Yeah. So, are we going in and telling Alya and Nino it was a joke."

"Yeah obviously, it'd keep the balance." Marinette said pulling her hair ties off as Adrien stared at her confusedly, "Oh, my parents and Alya seemed so concerned about the fact I was wearing pigtails again here so I'm letting my hair down."

"N-no. It's fine. You look good." Adrien smiled at her as her cheeks darkened.

"Okay, we've wasted enough time. Let's go!"

"Yeah, let's go." Adrien took his hand in hers and she felt like her heart skipped a couple of beats. He noticed she wasn't moving and turned around exasperatedly, "Oh, sorry! You said we needed to act like a couple, right? Isn't this a 'couple' gesture? Are you okay with that."

"Yeah." Marinette said with that dreamy edge to her voice. _She was more than okay. It was like she was living in a dream._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part of the storyline will continue in the next prompt.


	10. Charm Bracelets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A different approach...

Marinette blearily opened her eyes, huh, where was she? This didn't look like her bedroom. Her feet struggled to get up, that's when she felt a something move beside her...

She leapt in fright and scuffled backwards. But she recognised the figure sprawled on the ground...

"Adrien!" Her heart leapt in panic as she rushed towards him, "Are you okay?"

At the sound of her voice, he shifted, his eyes gradually opening.

"Milady?" He said woozily as he got up and rubbed his eyes, "What are you doin-Where are we?"

He looked around. It appeared they were in a lift. It was quite confined. He recognized it as the lift at Chloe's hotel.

"I'm not sure what we're doing here. One minute I was in my room aslee-wait-is this a dream?" Marinette looked into his eyes. His almost did believe that but...

"No...I don't think so..." Adrien cupped his hand to her cheek, "My dreams are way weirder than this. Especially if you're in them." He winked as she shook her head unamused, but he could see that she was blushing.

"Flirt later, my prince." She bopped his nose, "We have to figure out what's going on."

"Wait a minute..." Adrien acknowledged as strain stroked his face, "Where are Tikki and Plagg?"

At that question, Marinette and Adrien began to frantically scuffle around searching for their kwamis. Lucky for them, Tikki was tucked asleep in Marinette's purse and Plagg was in Adrien's pocket.

"Tikki! Plagg! Wake up!" The owners shook their kwamis as they nudged around.

"Wha-at happened, Marinette?"

" _Aadrien!_ You interrupted my cheese dream."

Marinette and Adrien sighed in relief to see that Tikki and Plagg were safe. But they still had a mystery to solve...

"We've been strangely teleported from one place to another, and we're all together here. What does that mean?" Marinette questioned.

"Eh...you have nothing to worry about? Terrorising Paris days are over for Good Old Gabe, remember?" Plagg mumbled.

"We know, Plagg. But this is an odd situation? It doesn't make sense like it used to." Tikki acknowledged.

"First, let's get out of this lift. Then, we can investigate." Marinette suggested as she fiddled with Adrien's beret, it was lopsided on his head.

"Excellent idea, milady!" Adrien leaned into Marinette's touch as he began to tease his fingers through her loose hair.

"Ugh...staying in confined spaces with you lovebirds is grossing me out." Plagg groaned as he glanced at their intimate position, "Also, get up, would you! Sitting like that in a lift is going to give people the wrong idea!"

"Plagg!" Tikki yelled as Marinette and Adrien blossomed a bright red. _He was probably right though. Sitting knee-to-knee on the lift floor with their hands on each other's hair would be awkward to explain if the lift stopped and the door opened to outsiders._

Abruptly, the lift doors began to widen as the couple hastily moved away from each other as their kwamis hid in their pockets.

The man waiting outside stared at them as they sat plastered to the lift walls opposite to each other as they gave the man a nervous smile.

"Are you children okay." He asked

"Y-yeah." Marinette squeaked out, "We're perfectly fine."

"The lift suddenly jumped and knocked us backwards. Be careful, sir. It could do the same to you." Adrien covered for her as he got up to his feet and helped Marinette up, buckling her arm in his, "Better be safe than sorry!"

They quickly wrestled out of the lift and escaped from that awkward situation.

"That was too close for comfort." Marinette said as the ascended across the lobby.

"Yeah...I can't believe Plagg was right for once." Adrien ignored the silent cackle that was coming from his pocket.

"Good that you have a way around with excuses." Marinette exclaimed with a smile.

"I know. My luck, my lady, is because of this." He pulled out the charm bracelet she'd given him months ago.

"You still have it." Marinette gasped. The shiver in her voice made both their hearts tingle.

"You know I always have it." He smiled warmly at her.

"I do, too." She reciprocated his smile, as she took her charm bracelet out. The one he had given her on her birthday.

His smile grew warmer as he took her hand and raised it.

"May I, milady?" He beckoned towards the bracelet.

"May I, my prince?" A hint of playfulness crossed her eyes as they shifted to his hand and the bracelet.

Their smiles grew wider, as Adrien reached to fasten the bracelet to her wrist, pressing a gentle kiss to her hand.

Marinette giggled a she reached to loop his bracelet onto his wrist. Once done, she reached towards him on her tippy-toes, and pressed a playful kiss to his cheek.

That indulged him a bit too much as he squeezed both her hands with his and leaned in to press a kiss to her lips.

She gladly returned it as she fluttered her eyes shut, they had forgotten where they were and what was happening at that moment as their lips brushed softly together. Fluttery warmth flooded their senses as their smiles grew wider between the kiss. Their kisses always had sparks fly between them, and they always felt so right. _It felt too right. They were just meant to be._

As they parted ways, they smiled at each other, a whole sense of comfort and confidence wrapped around them.

"Ready to go, partner?" Marinette grinned at him.

"Always, milady." Adrien squeezed her hands one last time before they left the hotel.

Little did they know that their exchange didn't go unnoticed...Someone did notice...And it was the wrong person...

* * *

" _Wait a minute..."_ Marinette acknowledged leaning backwards on the tree after watching heaps of news footage, "So, we're in an alternate timeline?"

"That's would the news lady said. That the _akuma villain_ in this timeline was zapping people to other timelines."

"That would mean whilst we're here, ourselves from this timeline are in our timeline. We switched places!" _Hopefully, nothing gets too messed up..._

"D-do you remember when I was akumatized into Cat Blanc?" Adrien asked, shivers ran down his spine at the memory.

"Yeah. I do." Marinette firmly rested her hand onto his, as she squeezed it in an assuring way. She knew that this subject was a sensitive one for him, even if he tried to put a straight face in front of her, she knew that it still hurt him.

"Remember, I told you that your past-self came to fix things for us." Adrien began to explain as Marinette nodded. _They would've been doomed if Bunnyx didn't exist._ "After my de-akumatization, she said that I wasn't supposed to know she who she was, and that she'd fix everything? I didn't really understand what she meant as she disappeared back into the portal and moments later, her miraculous cure reversed all the damage."

"What was her Lucky Charm again?" Marinette asked.

"I think it was an eraser. It was weird because I'm pretty sure she didn't use it to defeat me."

"Hmm...didn't you say you discovered who I was because of the beret?"

"Actually, you dropped it off as Ladybug and signed it as Marinette. I kind of connected two and two together."

"She said that we weren't supposed to know our identities, and her lucky charm was an eraser! Could that mean..." Marinette paused as she discovered how exactly this would've played out, "She must've gone back in time and erased her civilian name from the gift, so in that way, you would never figure out my identity."

"Wait...so in this timeline basically, we're still dancing around each other and fighting akumas? Talk about slow progress." Adrien face palmed.

"Well...I don't think she wanted you getting akumatized again in her timeline, she must've been careful so our identities wouldn't be revealed here."

"I just realised if we want to set things right again, we have to fight the villain." Adrien groaned, "I have to face my evil dad's minions again. I thought I was done with that."

"It's just like old times. Ladybug and Cat Noir style." Marinette smiled at him, as she to cheer him up.

It worked. He looked up and smiled at her, squeezing her hand.

"I can't wait for one more pound it, milady."

"Are you ready for another battle by my side, kitty?"

"Always. Plagg, Claws Out!"

"Tikki, Spots On!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you confused...  
> Adrien and Marinette were transported to a different timeline (The Cat Blanc timeline). And themselves from that timeline were transported to their own timeline.  
> Basically, the akuma made them switch places.


	11. Video Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst

**_Swinging in the backyard_ **

**_Pull up in your fast car_ **

**_Whistling my name_ **

"Marinette. Are you okay?" His voice whistled in her ears as she was stuck in my daze

"Yeah. I'm fine." She gave him a fake smile. _The truth was that she was worried. Very worried._

He looked at her unconvinced and shook his head.

"I get it. We're in a completely different timeline and you don't know what's going on. You feel like you're stuck, and you feel like you're never getting out. Remember that in the other timeline, there are people working to defeat the akuma. Just believe it. We can't do anything now. But trust that the heroes will do something." _His words were very convincing, they really were, but she couldn't help the shiver up her spine. She was afraid what her other self was doing in her own timeline. Was she_ defeating _the akuma, alright? It felt weird sitting back in a fight you're meant to fight. Well, she was fighting it, but it wasn't really her..._

**_And you say_ **

**_Get over here_ **

**_And play a video game_ **

"Want to play a video game?" He asked her breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Uh-what?"

"Ultimate Mecha Strike. Ready to show me your amazing skills?" He grinned at her.

" _Uh-uh-okay!"_ Her cheeks flushed pink, "I don't know if I'm good at here though."

"Nonsense. I bet you're good at video games in any timeline." He flashed her his adorable smile again. _Did his smile have to be that cute?_

**_It's you_ **

**_It's you_ **

**_It's all for you_ **

Marinette couldn't stop staring at him. She was out of her game today. The entire day in this alternate timeline, they had pretended that they were _in love_. Not much happened though. They chose to limit it to hand-holding. However, holding his hand the entire day had indulged her way too much. Now, she was staring at his lips. She couldn't do that! He was in a relationship. Alternate timeline or not? In their timeline, he was dating timeline. This _perfect_ timeline wasn't going to change her mind. Plus, she still had to confess to him. She was sure it was for herself. But it felt like it was more for him.

"Are you okay?" Adrien asked for the second time, "You keep spacing out." He gave her his hypnotising concerned pout again, "Don't tell me that you're fine. You've been quiet the entire day. It's as if ever since we've stepped into this timeline, there's been this weird tension between us."

**_I would tell you all the time_ **

**_Heaven is a place on earth with you_ **

"I-I- "What _should she tell him? She couldn't say that it was her romantic feelings striking up again. Or should she? If she would confess anyways, she could do it now? Besides, she was doing it for herself! He was dating Kagami! She knew what the aftermath of the confession already! What was she afraid of? What was s-she a-afraid of? She couldn't do it! She-_

**_Tell me all the things you wanna do._ **

**_I heard that you like the bad girls._ **

**_Honey, is that true?_ **

"-arinette. Marinette. Marinette. Are you with me?" She hadn't realised that he had moved so close to her. One hand was enwrapped around the shoulders whilst the other cupped her chin. He was practically talking in her face. And now that even more concerned expression was closer to her face. She was fighting all her impulses and her righteousness. She couldn't take it anymore.

**_It's better than I ever even knew_ **

**_They say that the world is built for two_ **

"Adrien-I-I want to s-say that I-I" The words couldn't come out of her mouth as her adrenaline soaked her vision; blurry memories overtook her senses as the world went woozy...and dizzy...and dark.

**_Only worth living_ **

The world seemed to rebuild itself in front of her as she found her head on something comfortable. Her eyes and head turned upwards, as she gazed at the emerald green orbs staring back at her.

**_If somebody_ **

Her upper body was leaning against his chest; his sweatshirt was wrapped around her shoulders as their thighs were pretty much attached together.

**_Is loving you_ **

"You fainted." As he spoke, his breath tickled her mouth, sending shivers down her spine. And the concern threaded in his voice did not help.

"I-I don't want to talk about it." Her voice was pleading and tired. He could sense it.

"Okay." He sighed and smiled at her, "I won't pester you about it. You should rest a little."

She nodded in agreement as her mind was too tired and strained to comprehend anything. _She didn't say anything about their proximity; she didn't think twice about it..._

Her head crashed asleep against his chest, embracing his cologne (and slight cheese smell?).

The boy smiled softly at her sleeping form, as he rested his head on the top of hers, his eyes fluttering shut.

_It was peaceful. There was nothing to worry about. It was just the two of them._

_But little did they know that their peace wouldn't last for long._

_\---_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Video Games By Lana Del Ray : )


	12. Piano Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for some mixed feelings...

The next morning, Adrien found himself back in his bed.

"Are we back?" Adrien looked up some news footage in his phone, and he was relieved to see that his alternate timeline self and Ladybug had defeated the akuma successfully. Everything was reset and they were all back in their appropriate timelines. It was all back to normal again. _Or was it?_

He was still worried about Marinette. The last time he had seen her, she was all panicked in the alternate timeline, and he couldn't understand why? She _fainted_ and he couldn't pick out whether he had done something wrong or what...he was just so confused and concerned.

"Adrien." Nathalie's voice interrupted his thoughts as she entered the room, "Your father has let you go to your friend's house today. You may leave after lunch but be sure to be back during sunset."

 _He was surprised?_ His friends were planning to meet up at the Couffaine houseboat today, and he had asked his father whether he could go (before the whole alternate timeline thing obviously). Instead of the usual _no,_ his father said he'd think about it. Adrien had thought for sure he'd say no, but luck was on his side today!

"Thank you, Nathalie. Say thanks to father from me." He beamed at her as she sternly nodded and turned to leave, however; before she stepped out of the room, she turned back to him, "Make sure to take Miss. Tsurugi with you."

"Uh...sure." _What was with their obsession with Kagami?_

After she left, Adrien collapsed on his bed and sighed contentedly.

"Can you believe it, Plagg? Father actually let me hang out with my friends today!"

"Sounds a little bit weird if you ask me but fine, there's nothing to lose anyways." Plagg said in between bites of Camembert.

"Maybe, he's changing. What if he's trying to move on?" _Seeing his father content again is something he had been waiting for ever since his mother's disappearance..._

"If he is, I'll be happy for you, kid. But let's not get our hopes up yet, indulge in what you have now. Like the creamy delight with your friends you're going to be treated with today!"

"Plagg, we're not eating cheese." Adrien shook his head unamused.

"Cheese metaphors make everything better!" Plagg stuffed more Camembert into his mouth.

"It was a simile."

"Eh...do you think us ancient kwamis care about the correct use of literary devices, kid! We've gone through way more than any human ever has. So, metaphor? Simile? Who cares? It's not like the world is ending."

"And that last line was another simile. It used _like_ for the comparison of two unrelated objects." _Adrien liked getting on Plagg's nerves._

"This is why cheese is so much better than humans." Plagg whined as he went to grab another piece of Camembert.

* * *

Driving to the Couffaine houseboat with Kagami was _strangely awkward_. She was behaving rather stiff and cold and he couldn't understand why. For example, when he offered his hand to help her sit in his car; she completely dodged it pointedly. _What had he done now?_

"How was your day yesterday?" He asked Kagami during the car ride to break the awkward tension between them.

"You would know." She muttered indignantly. Which made him even more confused.

"Uh..." _Girls were so complicated._ They'd never say what the problem was, it was as if they always expected boys to know their troubles beforehand. _And Kagami wasn't the only girl he was talking about._

* * *

The day didn't get any better. Kagami was still acting strange when they had arrived to the Couffaine houseboat and he didn't understand what he did wrong. The last time they had seen each other all was good; at least that's what he thought.

"Kagami, could we please talk." Adrien asked her after she had brushed him off again, "Privately."

"There's nothing to talk about, Adrien." She responded as cold as ever.

"But please...I don't understand. What did I do wrong?"

"You don't understand what you did wrong? Really!" Kagami grabbed his arm and shoved them into a tiny cabin of the houseboat in the front.

"This is what you did!" Kagami abruptly grabbed her phone and he pretty much shoved it in his face.

It was a picture of him and Marinette kissing. Wha-

"What? When did this happen?" Adrien was in genuine shock.

"I'm not sure but I got this photo yesterday from an anonymous number."

"Yesterday?" _Oh. Everything made sense now. Yesterday, he was in the alternate timeline. The timeline in which him and Marinette were dating. They had switched places._

"Kagami! Yesterday, Marinette and I were zapped by the alternate timeline villain. We were in a completely different timeline the entire day and we had to wait for Ladybug and Cat Noir to fix everything. It's not technically us in the picture."

Kagami eyed him sceptically, "Why are you kissing then?"

"In the alternate timeline, me and Marinette were a couple." Adrien sighed. _Was that the right thing to tell her?_ "You have to believe me. Marinette and I would never do something like that to you. Besides, we're _just friends_."

Kagami turned to the side as she gravely eyed the picture for a few moments. She then sighed and looked up to face the cabin window clearly avoiding eye-contact with him.

"I believe you." Kagami finally said as Adrien sighed in relief, "But I don't think we should be together, Adrien."

" _Why?_ " Did he make her upset again somehow?

"Look, I used to believe that we'd make the perfect couple. That we were meant to be and there's nothing that could come in between us." Kagami confessed _sadly_ , "But I realised that it was only my imagination. Reality is completely different, and I understood that perfection isn't what someone needs, Adrien. What you need is someone that will support you and help you grow as a person. Having similarities is great but it's sometimes the differences between people that can truly matter. Unfortunately, I don't think we have that kind of relationship, I think it's better we stay as friends."

She turned to face him with a dejected smile on her face. He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to deny everything she said. He really did. But he just didn't feel that was the right thing to say, and he wasn't the right person for the job.

"Will you be alright?" He asked instead.

"I will. It hurts. But I can fight my way through it." _He didn't deny her words, Kagami was a strong girl, but he still hoped that someone would look at for her. He would but for a strange reason, he just didn't know what to say to her. It was as if the universe was telling him, it wasn't his place even if it was their problem._

"I'll see you around, Adrien." She gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and left him alone in the cabin.

"Well...that just happened." Adrien collapsed onto a stool in front of an electrical keyboard. _His first relationship had come to an end._

"So, how do you feel, lover boy?" Plagg peeped out from Adrien's pocket, "Dejected?" _And he said the last word with concern._

"That's the problem, Plagg. I don't know." _He didn't know how to feel about the break-up. Was it bad that he didn't feel as sad as he should? He was more concerned about Kagami but then again, he had a feeling that she would fine. Agh...this was all so confusing._

Adrien turned to the keyboard and started to play some simple tunes. The notes of the music made him feel a little bit better as their chaotic vibe rung in his ear. Playing this tune made him feel happy, it made him feel free. This was the Liberty after all. The houseboat's name rung with freedom. Something he'd craved for his entire life. Something he'd always lacked.

A loud crash interrupted his tune, he jumped to his feet to detect the source of the sound. It was just Marinette, she had accidently crashed tripped over some of the boxes, he scurried over to help her up.

"We should really stop bumping into each other like this." He gave her a slight grin as she got up.

"Y-yeah. That was a lovely tune." She squeaked in a very Marinette manner.

"You think?"

"It was very lively. I can't play the piano half as good as you."

"Thanks." Adrien chirped. He had an idea, "Why don't I teach you."

"What?" Marinette's eyes widened in bewilderment.

"Teach you a few notes on the piano? Are you interested?"

"Uh...sure...why not?!" She gave him an anxious smile.

He eagerly grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the piano, seating her on the stool as he got another one for himself. He wasn't sure why he was so excited to teach Marinette how to play the piano. He just was.

"Do you know any basics?" He asked her.

"Um...I guess I know the letters of the keys. At least how it goes."

"Okay then. We'll start with very basic tunes then. Like Do Re Mi?"

"Sure! I don't mind. The Sound of Music songs sound good to me."

"Did you watch the movie?"

"Yeah! Too many times to count! Our old music teacher at school was obsessed with the movie."

"I remember my mom liking the movie too. The songs are great."

"That's true. They're very touching. Your mom had excellent taste."

"Yeah, she did. We used to have these super fun movie nights together. I miss them." _What he meant to say was that he missed her..._

"You'll have them again one of these days." Marinette put a comforting hand on his shoulder as he smiled.

"Ready to start with a few basic notes of Do Re Mi?"

"Fine. Get ready to watch me embarrass myself." She said with an adorable pout.

"I'm sure you'll do fine!" He chuckled at her.

In the next 20 minutes, Marinette had mastered the first three lines of the song and that was pretty good.

"You're a fast learner!" He beamed.

"Well, they say students only succeed if the teacher's good." Marinette nudged his shoulder playfully.

"No, they don't! You're just making that up!" Adrien laughed.

"So, what? It's true. You do make a good teacher." Her words were genuine.

"Thank you." He said bashfully feeling red on the cheeks. There was something about her words that melted something inside him.

"So, my dear student, would you like to play the tune that was taught to you today?" He began in a playful mannerism.

"Yes, as you wish, sir." She replied with same sense of humour.

" _C.D.E- "_

"Wait!" Adrien interrupted, "This time, let's sing the song too!"

"Alright." Marinette turned to the piano, " _Doe, a deer, a female deer."_

" _Ray, a drop of golden sun!"_ Adrien joined in as Marinette strummed the tune.

" _Me, a name, I call myself."_ Marinette finished, that was all she knew. But the song wasn't over yet.

Adrien took both her hands in his as he positioned them on the piano, whereas Marinette just looked at him baffled.

" _Far, a long, a long way to run!"_ Adrien chanted as he helped Marinette strum on the right keys to make the tune through navigating her hands with his own hands on top of hers. She smiled at him and nodded as if to say _thanks._

" _Sew, a needle pulling thread." Marinette sang as they continued playing the next notes._

" _La, a note to follow so."_ Adrien sang whilst pressing Marinette's fingers onto the keys.

" _Tea, a drink with jam and bread."_ Both said together. Their voices and fingers in sync.

" _That will bring us back to do oh oh OH."_ A loud and unpleasant beat ruined their tune. _Oops, they had pressed the wrong note. He was having so much fun that he didn't realise where their hands where going. That loud strum was quite funny though._

They started laughingat their silly blunder, turning their heads towards each other.

"That was so much fun!" Marinette chanted. He was glad to see her happy again. Yesterday wasn't a pleasant ride.

"We should do this more often." He acknowledged.

"Mhm." She hummed sweetly whilst nodding.

"Too bad I don't get much time though." Adrien groaned. _Silly security measures._

"We can still have fun in plenty of other ways. Don't lose hope." She smiled at him. There was a deeper meaning that went through her words not even she could understand, and it made his heart lurch.

"I won't." He squeezed her hands that he was still holding, "I don't think I can lose hope anymore."

_Unspoken words left the last sentence incomplete and he couldn't guess why he left them out._

_He was meant to say, 'I don't think I can lose hope when you're around.'_

_\---_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do Re Mi was my life as a little kid in music class. That song dominated most of my childhood!


	13. Scarf Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien needs help with his scarf...

"Ouch." Marinette groaned. Currently, she was in a very uncomfortable and embarrassing situation.

Her and Adrien were having a bit too much fun playing the piano. They hadn't noticed that Marinette's earring had gotten stuck in Adrien's scarf. Also, it wasn't just any scarf. It was the scarf that she had given him for his birthday (too bad he didn't know that).

She was trying to pull her ear loose from his scarf, and it was a painful process.

"Do you want me to take your earring off for you?" Adrien breathed in her ear. The proximity was daunting.

"NO!" Marinette said a bit too loudly. So much for being discrete, she could sense him giving her a strange look right now. But she couldn't have that happening! "What I mean is, that I've almost got it."

After a few tugs, she got frustrated and pretty much put all her strength into her last tug!

"AH!" It finally broke free, it was painful, but she needed to protect her secret identity at any cost.

"Are you okay?" Adrien asked her after her outburst.

"Yeah, I'm fine." But she couldn't say the same for his scarf. An ugly blue thread was hanging loose, and it was fraying badly.

"I'm so sorry about your scarf!" He didn't seem to have notice it until she mentioned the fact.

"It's fine. Things like this happened." He smiled at her but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. Plus, the eyes never lied. She knew that it was favourite scarf. Mainly because he thought his father had given it to him. But she could never tell him the actual truth about the scarf. However, maybe she could fix it...

"Hey. We can go over to my house, and I can fix your scarf there! I seem to have a similar colour thread." _She did have some of thread left._

"Really?" His eyes adorably lit up, "Let's go!" His tone was childish as he pulled her hand along. This side of him made her want to chuckle.

* * *

They had somehow convinced his bodyguard to take them over to her house for a bit. And currently, she was fixing his scarf in anxiousness.

"It's lucky that you have a similar colour thread!" Adrien's voice delightfully chirped from behind her.

"Mhm." Marinette nodded. She didn't want to face him as she was wary that he might sense her tension. He had been surprisingly good at doing that in the past, despite his obliviousness.

"All done." She turned smiling as she handed him the scarf.

"Thank you so much, Marinette." Adrien examined the scarf, "If you weren't so amazingly talented then I- "

Abruptly, he paused mid-sentence and stared at the scarf.

"What's wrong, Adrien?" Marinette anxiously bit her lip, what if-Oh no! She had completely forgotten about that little detail.

"Look, I can explain!" Marinette stood up in her defence.

"Explain what?" Adrien looked up in befuddlement, "Your amazing talent?"

_He hadn't figured it out. She'd like to keep it in that way._

"N-nothing. I was talking about the thread. I was actually inspired by your scarf and began hunting for it."

"Good thing you did. It all led up to this moment." He chuckled.

"Y-yeah." She stuttered in response.

His phone rung as he slung the scarf back on his neck.

"Must be Nathalie. Better take that." He picked up his phone.

"Mhm" _Thank god he hadn't found out yet. It would just bring awkward questions about why she hadn't told him in the first place, also, she didn't want to disappoint him when he found out that the scarf wasn't from his dad._

"I have good news!" Adrien beamed a minute later after his call, "I can stay here for 2 more hours!"

"Wow! That's very lucky and unexpected."

"I know. It's a very rare opportunity and I'd like to use it. I can stay here till 8pm. That's the latest my dad has let me stay in a friend's house so far!" Adrien exclaimed in elation; his eyes practically shone with joy.

"That's great!" She really was happy for Adrien. She hadn't seen him this happy ever before. Childish enthusiasm was a good look on him.

"What do we do?" He mused tapping his chin. His childish enthusiasm had one disadvantage though; she couldn't stop being enthralled by his cuteness. She was staring at him even more intently then before and it wasn't just in a _friendly_ way... _oh no_...

"Marinette?" Adrien's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Oh...sorry." Marinette apologised, "It's just that I've never seen you so happy before." Her eyes widened as her face morphed into a pink shade as she realised that she had said that out loud. _You and your stupid mouth saying sappy things, Marinette! Get a grip!_

"It's just that I am." His smile grew wider at her comment. She was glad that he wasn't weirded out. But she guessed that he wasn't the type to back away from sentimentality, and honestly, she was glad, "I've never had so much freedom before, it feels good."

Marinette smiled and giggled. Her own heart was feeling the sunshine. His happiness was radiating off her. She felt it too. And it felt good.

"Well, if it is a happy day, then why not end it with an awesome movie night!" She exclaimed as he clasped his hands in excitement, his eyes lighting up once again. It was adorable when he did that.

"I'll get some pastries to eat whilst we watch the movie. I'll be right back!"

"Sure!" Adrien beamed as Marinette scurried away to the staircase.

Once out of her room, she was giggling uncontrollably. His childish cuteness was making her heart flutter in the strangest ways, and this time, it was with sheer happiness. It would only go back to tingling with pain when her head reminded her who he was with. _If only._

* * *

"Plagg! After today! I simply love this scarf even more!" Adrien clutched the scarf to his chest. He was waiting for Marinette to be back with the pastries.

"Why? It's already your favourite scarf, isn't it?"

"Today, the scarf has a different vibe to it." Adrien smiled as he hugged the scarf even tighter.

"You found out, didn't you?" Plagg asked numbly.

"Yes!" Adrien exclaimed, "How did you know?"

"That signature was obvious." Plagg rolled his eyes, "Can't believe you only realised it today! When did you know? Was that why you dramatically stopped?"

"No, it wasn't then, I spotted the signature when her earring was tangled in it."

"Why didn't you ask her then?"

"I was going to, but she was in a panic mode with her earring stuck and then she later went to insist that I let her fix my scarf. I was going to ask her after she fixed it but..." Adrien sighed, "That's when I realised that there was a reason, she didn't tell me. And I don't want to mess things up again. I didn't want to intimidate her again. Though, I am a bit confused about the mix-up."

"So, you're never going to tell her that you know?"

"I will, Plagg. But not today." Adrien fiddled with the strands of the scarf, " _Someday_."

_There was a right time for everything._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update...  
> One-sided scarf reveal, is that frustrating?


	14. Movie Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien makes Marinette watch an anime movie : )

"Okay! So, we're all set! What movie shall we watch?" _This was all so unexpected. She didn't have anything in mind for them to watch._ "What do you like watching?"

"Uh...I...Don't laugh at me..." Adrien gave her a nervous smile, "But I usually watch anime."

"That's fine." Marinette assured him by returning the smile, "Everyone has different interests. Personally, I don't watch much anime, I just watch stuff on Netflix or YouTube when I'm free."

"That's good to know. But I don't really know what to watch yet."

"Hmm...what's your favourite anime movie?"

He quirked his eyes in surprise at her question, "But...you don't watch anime, right?"

"I don't. But I do appreciate trying new things." She subconsciously put her hand on his.

Adrien shyly ducked his head to the side toying with the bags in his hair, "There's this movie that I downloaded on my phone. It's called Your Name. We could cast it on your screen. I think you'd like it."

"What it's about?"

"Uh...it's complicated to explain. I guess you could classify it as romance? You okay with watching it?"

"Sure, why not?" _Though, she wasn't sure how she felt about watching a romance movie with Adrien._

"Awesome!" He put his childish enthusiastic face on again. _So cute._

"Let's begin, shall we?"

"Yeah...let me find the download so I can cast it on TV."

* * *

By the end of the movie, Adrien was a weeping mess in Marinette's arms.

"I'm so sorry. But this movie gets me every time. And I've watched it 10 times already!"

Marinette pat his head gently, "I know. This movie was so frustrating and beautiful! And don't even talk about that animation! It's amazing! Why can't all movies be like this."

"That's why I prefer anime." Adrien nuzzled his chin on her shoulder. _This kind of contact was going to make her heart go crazy,_ "I can't believe you only cried once."

"I actually thought Itomuri was gone forever, and he would never see her again."

"At least, there was a happy ending. Kind of." Adrien rubbed his eyes dry and parted from her arms, "I wish I shared a similar connection with someone."

He continued to stare at the wall dreamily, his mind clearly deep in thought. She gave him a baffled glance.

" _What about Kagami?"_ She ask-oops. She wasn't meant to say that out loud! There went her stupid mouth again!

"Oh...um...well...Kagami and I sort of broke up?" Adrien awkwardly rubbed his neck. _What?_

"How? I-Are you okay?" Marinette asked him. _There were a million questions and contradictions playing out in her mind right now, and her heart was rapidly beating with hope and dread at the same time._

"I guess you could say I'm fine. It's complicated." Adrien looked up, "I'm more concerned about Kagami though..."

"How did you- "

"WATCH OUT!" Adrien shoved her to the side. Their bodies, toppled on one and other, rolled over crashing against a wall.

The trapdoor to her balcony had come crashing down; it would've almost fell on them causing a bad head injury. And it was no accident. _That was for sure._

Adrien's body shifted from top of her, as her eyes travelled to where they once sat. Another figure stood there. Unmistakably an akuma for sure. Judging by the outfit and flashy skin tone.

The weird thing was that it looked both like _Luka and Kagami?_

Oh no! She had a very bad feeling about this. It was going to be a long and tiresome night. With a handful of an akuma to battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger!  
> XD...I'm totally not sorry : )


	15. Sacrifices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Multimouse and Aspik...again!

The villain looked rather odd. It had two sides. Half of it looked like Luka and the other half matched Kagami. But that wasn't it...

Kagami's skin tone was blue and she had a passive aggressive expression on her face. Her blue clothing was more casual with a Rockstar vibe, and she appeared calmer than usual. Whereas, Luka's skin tone was red, and he had a fiercer expression with more formal clothing that held a preppy and sporty style. _They appeared like inverted versions of themselves._

"It seems too much of a coincidence that the two of you are together here? And I thought we were friends." The familiar sound of Kagami's voice came from the villain. However, it sounded different. It was much calmer and more delicate. It had a tint of emotion to it other than anger.

"Unless you were lying this whole time! And you're secretly dating! Playing us along as puppets in your schemes!" Luka's voice raged from the villain this time, and it wasn't very Luka-like. The anger was evident in it.

"Guys, you're not thinking clearly. You aren't yourselves right now!" Marinette told them.

"We're better than ourselves. We're Inverter. And we're going to give you what you deserve for lying to us!" Luka roared, aiming a blast from the sword he was carrying at them. It missed them and blasted the wall instead.

"Lying? We didn't lie to you." Adrien said confused.

"You told me that kissing picture was a fake." Kagami said coldly as they aimed another shot towards them. Adrien shoved Marinette to the side.

"Picture. What kissing picture?" Marinette questioned.

"I didn't say it was a fake. I said it wasn't actually us." Adrien replied to Kagami dodging Marinette's question.

"More lies! The two of you thought it was wise to play around with our feelings this entire time!" Luka shot another blast them.

"Quick, let's go before they blast the trapdoor." Marinette whispered to Adrien as they hastily escaped the scene.

"YOU CAN'T GET AWAY FOR TOO LONG! WE'LL FIND YOU!" Inverter's voice echoed from above them.

"Let's hide here." Marinette and Adrien hid behind the curtain.

"We can't stay here for too long."

She needed a way to escape and transform into Ladybug, "I'll go and get help. You wait here."

"Okay. I'll fend off the villain if I have to."

"What if you get hurt?" She appreciated his bravery, but this was no time for heroics

"I won't. I do know my fencing skills. Plus, I trust that you'll bring help soon enough."

"Be careful." Marinette squeezed his shoulder. _Ladybug would be there to save him in time._

"I will." He reassured; Inverter's voice came roaring back into the room.

* * *

Marinette hastily crawled away to the staircase.

"Time for Ladybug. Tikki, Spots On!"

_What?_

Nothing happened.

"Tikki?"

"I'm here!" Tikki peeped out of Marinette's purse, "That should've worked."

"Oh no! What's wrong?"

"You have an earring missing!" Tikki gasped as she nudged towards Marinette's left ear.

" _What?"_ Marinette reached up to her left ear; she felt like a bucket of cold water had been pored over her, "Oh no!"

It must've gotten tangled in Adrien's scarf! But...when she was sewing it, she swore it wasn't there. Oh god, it must've fallen off!

Earrings were so tiny! She didn't even know where it fell off! She was so preoccupied! She should've been more careful!

"Breathe, Marinette." Tikki said at her heavy breathing.

"How can I breathe, Tikki? Part of my miraculous is missing! How am I going to find it now! This is the worst thing that could've happened!"

"On the positive side, I can sense the Miraculous if it's near. And if it has fallen off, then it fell off either in the Couffaine houseboat, in Adrien's car or your room! I should be able to find it soon!"

"Yeah but...how am I supposed to defeat the villain now? And only Ladybug can purify akumas and use the cure to fix things!"

"Use another miraculous for now. Cat Noir can use cataclysm on the akuma, and you can use the cure once we find your earring which we will do _after_ the fight."

"Cataclysm the akuma? It's just an innocent butterfly."

"It's a sacrifice that I hope you're willing to make." Tikki sighed.

"How are you so calm about it? I made a terrible mistake." Marinette asked her little kwami friend.

"You did. But you're not the first. Many have done the same in the past. And they've gone through it. You can do too."

"Thanks, Tikki, but..." _There's always but,_ "What if something happens to Adrien?"

"You better be quick, then!"

Without farther ado, Marinette rushed up the stairs. _She was going to defeat the akuma, she was going to find her earring and she was going to save Adrien._

* * *

Adrien was going to transform into Cat Noir as soon as Marinette left, but Inverter had found him already.

Now, he was fending off the villain from the pole from Marinette's curtain that he dismantled (He hoped that she didn't mind) ...

"Not ready to give up yet, sunshine boy?" Luka roared.

"Never." Adrien responded lunging forward. Inverter had Kagami's fencing skills and it was difficult to keep up with villain. Though, Luka was the one wielding the sword. His theory was that Inverter's powers were mainly like Reverser's, but this was used to swap the personalities between two different people. It would explain Kagami and Luka's attire and composures. _They were inverted versions of each other._

Inverter locked the pole out of his hands, he groaned and collapsed backwards on the ground. Fighting without powers wasn't nearly as easy.

"Tired already?" Luka pointed his sword at him, it was dangerously close to his chest, "You will pay for all things you've done in the past."

"Not so fast!" A voice interrupted them as he felt something wrap around him. Adrien felt himself in the arms of Multimouse. By getting help, Marinette literally got some help.

"Don't come in between us!" Inverter blasted another ball of energy at them, Multimouse dodged it and speedily went towards the staircase. Fortunately for them, the ball of energy hit a cabinet, creating a mess behind them. That would keep Inverter busy.

"That was very dangerous." Multimouse stated unimpressed as she placed him down on _her_ bedroom floor.

"I needed to do something to distract the villain before Ladybug came. Where is Ladybug?"

"Apparently, she's unavailable so as of now, you have to do with me. Besides, you weren't doing so well, you would've been dead meat if I hadn't showed up. We don't even have Ladybug here with her cure! You have to learn how to be more careful!" Multimouse huffed. _Wow, she was mad_.

"Okay...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, but I wanted to protect my friend and besides, even if something happened to me, Ladybug would've fixed it with her cure!"

"Ladybug isn't always there to save people so don't consider yourself as sacrificial material!" Multimouse snapped as she looked to the side crossing her arms. _It was so un-Marinette, this side of her was surprising._

"I guess you're right." He sighed, "I can't rely on superheroes to save me all the time. I have to learn to be more careful."

"Exactly!" Multimouse nodded, "As a civilian, you shouldn't confront supervillains directly, it's foolish. But as a superhero, you know then to take charge, Aspik." Multimouse reached her arm towards him. A familiar looking box in her hand.

_Should he be more bewildered by the fact that she had just called him foolish or that she had known his identity? Well, the unimportant identity, that was..._

" _How- "_

"Ladybug told me. Desperate times call for desperate measures. So, Adrien, will you be Aspik or not? We don't have all day you know..."

_First, she scolded him for fighting the akuma and now, she wanted him to fight the akuma. Girls. Them and their stupid logic. It's time that she got a taste of her own medicine..._

"Sure, Multimouse." Adrien slipped the wristband on his wrist, "Or should I say _Marinette_."

Her gasp echoed across the room. It was pure satisfaction.

"How- "

"Sass, Scales Slither!" He interrupted her very much on purpose as he let the green light enwrap him around. _Unfortunately, her queries would remain_ _unanswered._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kids. You better be control your emotions.  
> Otherwise, you'll end up revealing UNIMPORTANT secrets ; )


	16. Rejected Heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation Inverter VS Snekomouse!

Marinette stood with her mouth agape as she stared at Adrien transform into Aspik.

_What? How would he-_

It did not make sense. _How would he know that she was Multimouse? How long had he known?_

"What's wrong? Are you completely taken away by my new hairstyle?" Adrien flicked his golden strands of hair as he shot a smirk at her. She _did not_ blush, "I bet I look so much better with my hair out. The other hairstyle was made me look like an egghead? Don't you think?"

" _How did you know?"_ She mouthed aloud. _How did he find out her identity so easily?_

Before she could hear his response, a crash sounded from behind them which sent them leaping forward. Inverter had literally blasted her bedroom floor open.

"Thought you could hide for long?" Inverter shot another blast towards them as they dodged it, "And I see you've brought another friend." They eyed Aspik.

"Fortunately for you, you're not the ones I want! Where are Ladybug and Cat Noir? Where are you hiding Marinette and Adrien?" Another sword blast.

"They're safe from you." Multimouse flipped backwards. _Oh...the irony._

"You'll never find them!" Aspik exclaimed.

Inverter angrily groaned as they continued shooting blasts and blasts at them.

"What's the plan?" Aspik whispered in her ear.

"I wish I knew! Things would be so much easier with Ladybug and Cat Noir around! As of now, I'm just a rejected hero!" _Ladybug would be so much more useful in this fight. And she was worried that Cat Noir would not see her messages in time._

"I'm on the same boat as you." Aspik pushed Marinette away as another blast came their way. Their bodies tumbled down the floor together thudding against the wall.

Aspik, who lay on top of her, lifted his head to look her in the eyes. He gave her a smile. A very _Adrien_ smile.

"But we can do this. You once said to me that we must prove to ourselves that we are heroes. No matter how bad things are, we must believe that we can get through it. Working towards victory is always better than anticipating loss, right? Rejected heroes or not. We need to do this together."

Marinette's heart loudly beated in her chest as his gentle eyes looked down on her. _He was right. Whatever was going to happen, they could not start worrying due to a few obstacles in their way. They had to stay focused on aiming towards victory. Missing earring or not, she was not going to let Hawk Moth win. They were going to do this together._

She reciprocated his smile as the warmth of his gaze made her tingle all over. There was something to seeing Adrien in a mask staring at her like this. A hint of deja-vu was hitting her senses...

Another blue ball of sparkling energy came sizzling their way as they broke apart heading opposite directions.

"Oops. Did I ruin the moment? Shameful of me. I know how that feels anyway." Inverter started blasting more energy balls at them as both heroes came to meet at the centre of the room again.

"Thanks for the advice!" Multimouse said as she stood back-to-back with him, "Though, I'm still mad at you for earlier."

"Looks like I'll have to make it up you then." Aspik chuckled dodging an energy ball, "What should we do next?"

"The akuma appears to be in his sword. I am going to keep him cornered with my superpower. You stay on the ready with your Second Chance! Try to aim for his sword! If anything bad happens, you know what to do."

"O-okay." Aspik gulped. She could sense his apprehension.

"Don't worry. You can do it. I believe in you." She offered him her best smile, sadly, because of their position, he could not see it.

"Thanks." The gratitude tingled in his voice, "I believe in you too."

Multimouse ducked her head down covering her blush as she leapt through the air over a blast. Staying close to him when he said things like that was not the wisest option. Especially during an akuma battle. She did not know what crazy things her heart would make her do... _Focus!_

"Multitude!" She felt the familiar power split herself into multiple mini duplicates. It was a strange sensation: having control over so many _Marinettes_. But it was useful for sure. _When the cat's away, the mice will play..._

"Try and catch me now, Inverter! You won't be so lucky!" The mini versions of herself yelled.

"We like a good challenge. Don't you know that?" Kagami's voice took over as more blasts desperately chased after the mice. Aspik took this opportunity to activate Second Chance and play along the side-lines.

Their plan was working. Inverter was slowly starting to get more annoyed by this game of _mice and seek_ and more determined to win. Aspik's perfect opportunity to grab the sword was coming near...

"Getting tired already, Inverter? I thought you were much smarter than this!" The Mini Mouse squad teased as they nonchalantly dodged the energy balls.

"Don't judge me quite yet!" Inverter pounced on a Multimouse dangerously aiming an energy ball at her.

"You know you won't win until you catch all the mice! And at the rate you are going, that might as well never happen."

"I can't believe you think you have the advantage here." Inverter cackled, "You shouldn't have left us alone back there. Poor Mr and Mrs Dupain-Cheng!"

The blood washed away from her face as she realised the implications of their words. _No...Not when she didn't have the cure yet..._

"What did you to do them?" She yelled us all the mini mice flung onto Inverter's back.

"Ma-Multimouse! Don't do that!" Aspik yelled as he moved to reset his wristband back.

"Not so fast, your terrible fake!" Inverter raged forward with the Multimouse in her hand and the rest on their back. Inverter kicked Aspik to the ground, stepping on his arm so he couldn't use his power.

"You're all going down all right! And we're all going together! You won't win!" Inverter wielded a huge energy ball, it started to grow bigger and bigger enough to cover them all. Before the heroes knew it, they were enveloped in the surging energy of the big blast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's end the day with an evil cliffhanger!  
> The next chapter will be important...


	17. Life Swap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien needs help.  
> He thinks the author is mean : (

Adrien lifted his head up and rubbed his eyes open. _Wha-_

He looked around. The room felt strange but familiar. The spatial area of the room matched Marinette's bedroom. But it looked way different.

The décor was more boyish with white walls and sports equipment, along with CDs and novels. It looked like his own dream room.

"Adrien!" He jumped at the sound of the voice. It was his father's voice but it was less stern and more _friendly_.

He got out his blue bunk bed and stepped towards the trapdoor. _It was familiar but odd as he was used to Marinette being around here._

* * *

This had the same structure as Marinette's house. The only thing different was the décor. He had a few hunches of what Inverter possibly did but he was afraid to rely on them...

"Adrien."

His eyes widened at the sound of the voice. H-he'd recognise it from anywhere.

"M-mom?" His voice trembled as his mouth hung agape.

There she stood. Right in front of him. Her hair was a bit ruffled as she wore an apron and her clothing was much more casual than he'd ever seen. But it was still his mother, nonetheless.

"Fancy breakfast?" She handed him some croissants. He took them absent-mindedly as his eyes continued to linger on her.

_What should he do? Was this a dream? No...the akuma was toying with his mind...it had to have._

"Aren't you going to eat them?" Another familiar voice reached his ears. Behind his mother, stood father.

He was wearing another apron and a baker's hat. And his clothes weren't formal, they were very casual, and he was smiling! This was a strange way to look at his father. Gabriel Agreste not being the stern control freak dad was weird.

"Uh...yeah." Adrien took a bite into the croissant. It was as fresh and soft just like the ones from The Dupain-Cheng Bakery.

"Where's Marinette?" He asked as his parents gave him a queer look. _Oops...he wasn't meant to say that out loud._

"Marinette? As in Marinette Dupain-Cheng? Isn't she your friend from school?" His mother asked him. His heart still painfully lurched every time he looked at her. He wasn't ready for this. The akuma had messed him up too much...

"Yeah...she is."

"Why would she be in The Agreste Bakery at this time? Unless you were expecting someone..." Gabriel eyed him with a slight fascination in his eyes. _Getting used to his non-control freak father was hard..._

"The Agreste Bakery?"

"Yeah...our bakery. Are you okay, Adrien?" His mom asked him with that ever-so familiar concern in her voice. A huge wave of nostalgia hit him right there and then. Her voice sounded so real...

"I'm fine." He tapped his hand to his head, "I'm just blown away by this croissant." _It wasn't a lie. This croissant was delicious._

"You have them every day?"

"Yes!" _Quick, cover that up, Agreste "_ They never fail to amaze me!"

"Oh well...that's good to know!" His mother gave him her wonderful smile, "Care to help me knead the dough?"

_Shoot...he didn't know how to knead dough._

"Uh...after I clean the living room maybe?" He hastily headed to the already-clean living room to avoid any more questions.

_What did Inverter do? Did he invert his mother from dead to alive? He wished...But that didn't explain why they were bakers._

Abruptly, an interesting magazine on the coffee table caught his eye. _Wait...was that who he thought it was?_

He took the magazine into his hands as he stared at the cover, his eyes widening.

The magazine was titled _DC Fashion_ and the cover model was none other than Marinette. She was wearing a stunning outfit: a pretty pink dress and her hair hung loose with a cute petite pout on her face. _She looked beautiful...but that wasn't the point!_

The point was...had Inverter swapped his and Marinette's lives?

"Adrien?" His mother's voice drifted him from his train of thought. "Your dad's gone out too get some flour. Would you go and answer the door? My hands are messy!"

She sheepishly raised her flour-covered hands and winked at him, he chuckled at her antics. He had gotten his sense of humorous charm from his mother for sure, even though she was way better at it than him.

"Sure!" _He hadn't even realised the door had rung._

Despite being to Marinette's house only a few times, he knew his way around the place well (If he hadn't, he'd be lost by now).

He opened the door and was surprised to see who was waiting for him, "Nathalie?"

She looked different. Less stern and professional. But she was still a woman of grace.

"Hi Adrien." She greeted benevolently as she gave him a hug. It was a bit strange, but it was nice actually.

"Your parents home?"

"My mother is." Saying that burned something in his throat. He'd never imagined saying those words ever again.

"That's great." She stepped inside the house and greeted his mother with another hug.

It was odd seeing this kind of interaction between his family. It felt really nice.

_Adrien?_

A voice inside his head called...huh?

_Plagg? Is that you?_

_Uh...yeah! Who else...duh? Also, you feel really mushy gah..._

_Plagg? Why can't I see you? Why are you talking to me inside your head?_

_See me? You're the one asleep silly! I'm working to save you!_

_Asleep? Save me?_

_Look, kiddo, when the akuma used the energy ball on you. It send the four of you into some sort of deep slumber state where you won't wake up._

_The four of us?_

_Luka and Kagami too! When they used their energy ball on each other, they de-akumatized themselves somehow and purified the akuma. Or Hawky probably withdrew their powers._

_How are you communicating with me now?_

_Neat kwami trick! I can communicate with you in your head even if you're not awake. I'd usually not do this. Your head is grossing me out anyways...but duty calls..._

_How are you going o get me out anyways?_

_Me and Tikki are working on it? We're planning to use both our powers to balance out the cure._

_Tikki? As in Ladybug's kwami? Where's Ladybug?_

_Uh...she's unavailable. That's we're working on saving you. Just came into alert you..._

_Oh..._

Suddenly, he couldn't here Plagg's voice in his head anymore. He gazed forward to see his mother with her hand on his forehead.

"Are you okay, Adrien?" She looked at him with that sheer concern in her eyes, "You're not ill, are you?"

_This wasn't real. But it felt so real. And he hated it. He hated how it made him feel_ so _nostalgic. He hated how this life was so perfect whereas he suffered in his real life._

Adrien leaned in and gave his mother a big hug. Even if it weren't real, he'd still use this opportunity.

"I love you mom." _And I miss you._ He whispered in between the hug.

"I love you too, Adrien." He felt her mother squeeze him harder as waves of nostalgia tightened his chest. _He'd never felt this kind of love and affection for ages. It felt so good to feel it again. He missed her though and he doubted he'd ever feel this ever again..._

_Would he ever feel this kind of love again? He didn't know. All he knew was that he'd cherish this memory for as long as it lasted..._

The warmth caressed him whole as he sunk his head deeper onto her chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, Adrien...  
> You'll be getting more hugs soon though ; )


	18. Pastries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette wants to talk. Adrien doesn't.

Marinette woke up with shivers in her body. _Was that how life was like for Adrien?_

"What happened?" She shifted to her feet as she saw Luka and Kagami sprawled on the floor beside her, "Who are you?"

"Oh...I'm Multimouse. You two were akumatized."

"The akuma actually got to us. We're so sorry!" Kagami shook her head in disappointment.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. It's Hawk Moth's fault, not yours. Care for a ride home?"

They looked hesitant but exchanged mysterious glances with each other and soon nodded.

"Great, Aspik?" Multimouse turned to Adrien as he was groggily rubbing his eyes open.

"I'll take the boy whereas you take the lady." _She needed to find her earring anyways._

"Yes. Of course." He nodded. Something was different about his stare. She'd talk to him later anyways.

* * *

Marinette was lucky for once. She had actually been able to sneak around and search for her earring after she dropped Luka. She found it near the piano! Phew! There was one good thing about the Liberty never being cleaned.

Tikki had filled her in about what happened when they were under their slumber. Apparently, she had used her cure to fix everything up with Plagg's influence so things wouldn't go overboard? She was still confused how that worked out.

Adrien gave her the snake miraculous back as she told him that Ladybug would come and 'pick it up'. He didn't question it and she was baffled with his lack of curiosity. They really needed to talk.

"Adri- "

"Are the two of you alright?" Her mom's voice interrupted her. It was relieving to see her mother again. Especially after that nightmare. "That akuma attack was unexpected. We really need to install more security measures in your room, Marinette."

"No...I think that's alright, mom." _Transforming into Ladybug would be tricky with security measures around._

"Are you sure, Marinette? I don't like the idea of akuma villains creeping up in here without us knowing?"

"They have powers. Even with the security measures. I'm sure they'd find a way in."

"But how would we keep you safe?" Mom's eyes quirked up in worry.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng. Ladybug and Cat Noir will always be here to protect Paris. And I too vote no for the security measures." Adrien jumped in.

_Obviously, he knew. Adrien lived with more security than anyone else she knew, and her dream vividly depicted that anyways._

"Right." Sabine smiled. _Phew._ "Have some pastries, fresh out of the oven." She gave them the plate of goods she was carrying.

"Thanks!" They said simultaneously as they began to take bites into the pastries.

After Sabine left, Marinette eyed Adrien, it was the perfect time to talk to him now...

"Nathalie just messaged me saying she'll come to pick me up soon."

"Oh. Did she hear about the attack?"

"I don't think so and I hope not, my dad would start making a fuss out of it." He took a bite into his pie.

She nodded nibbling into her croissant a she looked down at her feet. _She just had a dream living Adrien's life and it was horrible. The mansion she lived in was cold and dreary, with barely anyone to talk to. Her schedule was overpacked and when she couldn't do half of the things right, she was put into pressure and humiliated. Her father had been so cold, and her mother was...she couldn't even say it. When she found out, she wept and wept for what seemed like ages even when she knew it was a dream..._

She glanced towards Adrien as he ate his croissants. It might've been a dream for her, but it was reality for him. _How did he deal with it? How many times did he suffer like this?_

Adrien raised his head and caught her staring at him. She rapidly blinked her eyes and looked to the side...

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

"It's nothing." She paused. No, wait, they couldn't leave this matter here, "It's just that you seem really quiet right now.""

"I could say the same for you." He said taking another nibble into his croissant clearly avoiding her gaze. _What was going on in his mind?_

"Adrien. We really need to talk about this."

"Talk about what?" He put on a naïve tone. _She was not falling for that._

"You know what. We really need to talk about what happened during the akuma attack."

"You mean me knowing that you're Multimouse?" _Seriously, he was still playing this game?_

"No." Her voice slightly rose in frustration. "What I mean is- "

Adrien's phone beeped interrupting her trail of words. "It's my bodyguard. He's waiting for me outside. I've got to go."

"Alright. I'll drop you outside." She sighed as she rose to her feet. _They were going to have this conversation one way or another. They will._

* * *

"Thanks for the pastries." Adrien told as they stood outside the bakery, "They were delicious!"

"No problem. See you tomorrow."

"See you." He gave her a timid smile before turning around walking to his car.

_She was hesitating. And she knew it. She couldn't just leave this matter here. Call after him, Marinette. Call after him._

"Adrien! Wait!" He spun around at the sound of her voice. His face curious.

She anxiously fiddled with her fingers before turning to look him in the eye to show to him that...she was being serious.

"Please, Adrien. Promise me we'll talk about the whole life swap scenario tomorrow at school. First thing in the morning. Promise."

"I- "Hesitant, he looked to the downwards before turning to meet her eyes again. _Seriously, what was this boy thinking about?_

"I promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter.  
> Next chapter will be an emotional rollercoaster though!  
> Dw!


	19. Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They really need to talk.

Unfortunately, they didn't talk first thing in the morning. There was an akuma attack so the two of them were late to class.

Marinette tried to grab every opportunity to talk to him during the day. But it never seemed to be possible, it was like fate was pulling them apart from each other. Weird. But true.

"Girl, why can't you stop looking at Adrien? You don't have- "

"Me looking at Adrien?" Marinette interrupted Alya during class, "No. It's not what you think it is."

And it was true. She was genuinely concerned for him. She couldn't stop thinking about yesterday's akuma attack. The more she thought about it; the more she felt guilty and she didn't know why? No...wait...that was a lie. She did know why. She felt guilty because she wasn't there for him as a friend when it was clear that he was going through so much. She felt guilty that a dream had made her realise that. She felt guilty that she had her feelings for him get in the way, when the first thing he needed was support. And she felt guilty that she hadn't given him the support _he needed_.

However, things were going to change. She was going to be there for him here on out. She would give him that support. _She cared for him_. And her feelings might have blinded her in the past about his problems but now... _she felt that she was the one controlling her feelings, not the other way around._ They were going to have this conversation. Even if it were the last thing she'd do for the day.

* * *

Adrien sat out in front of the school observing the little droplets of water pitter-patter against the ground. He felt like getting away from the shelter and going out there, letting the rain pour down on him. But...his father would never approve of that.

He was distracted today. He had to admit it. Visions of his mom danced around his head; he couldn't get her out of his head. She felt _so real_ yesterday. The fact was haunting his head. The fact that she wasn't really there...

"Hey." A familiar voice said, "Care for a stroll in the rain?"

He gazed up at the speaker. Marinette's blue eyes dawned down on him.

"My gorilla is waiting for me here. And won't we get wet?"

"I have an umbrella." She said smiling as she withdrew a black umbrella and slung it on her shoulder, "We won't be long. Also, did you just say _my gorilla_?"

"Uh-oops." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry. I mean my bodyguard. Gorilla is my nickname for him."

"That's very fitting." She said chuckling at him, "Reminds me of his akumatized form."

"Yeah. Hawk Moth copied me. That nickname is an Adrien Agreste original!"

"Sure." She chuckled, "Both of you have a terrible sense of humour."

"Hey!" He crossed his arms and pouted at her, "Actually, wait a minute, maybe you're right."

"Of course I am." She raised her head feigning pride, "I always am."

"You thought Spiderman was a DC superhero till last week."

"Okay...okay...that's one exception."

"You also thought that Spiderman was Iron Man's son."

"Ugh..." Marinette groaned ducking her head, "Please don't blame me for my lack of comic superhero knowledge!"

"Hey! But that's comic superhero basics!" _It really was._

"Everyone has different interests. You can't expect them to be an expert in every field."

"Hmm...so you're trying to trap me with your deep words, right?" He quirked a brow at her playfully.

"Yes." She flashed a bright smile at him, "They always work."

_Fair. She wasn't wrong._

" _Care to go on that walk?"_

"Sure. How could I reject a kind lady's offer!" He got up to his feet and gave her a dainty bow.

"You simply couldn't." She offered her arm to him and he hooked his arm in hers.

They stepped out of school and went towards the park. The puddles splashed against their shoes. His sneakers were becoming wet, but he didn't care. Father really couldn't blame the weather, could he now?

"So, how are you doing?" She asked him.

"Huh?"

"How are you doing? I mean from yesterday's akuma attack."

"Oh...fine." _Sort of. He'd get through it. He always did. Nothing for her to think about._

She narrowed her eyes in response, "You seemed distracted today."

"I- " She _had noticed?_ "It-it's n-nothing to worry about."

"Adrien..." Her eyes softened, "Whenever someone worries about you, do you know what that means?"

"No..." He answered. _Whenever someone actually worried about him, they'd go all protective and clingy over him. He wasn't a fan of that. He didn't need a protector, he needed support. Wasn't there anyone who understood that?_

"It- "She looked away into the rain as her voice stuttered, "I-it means..."

"What does it mean, Marinette?" He didn't know why but he really wanted to know her answer.

"It means that they care for you." Her voice was barely a whisper, but he heard it.

She peeped out to look at him with her bluebell eyes, her cheeks were pink. He was positive his was the same colour.

"And Adrien..." She broke out of her shy trance, "I want t-to say that...I'm your friend. And I'll always have your back. You can tell me anything...if you're comfortable. I just don't want to see you suffer."

She raised her head and they stopped in their footsteps to face each other. Standing underneath the umbrella.

"Do you have anything on your mind?" He could see the genuineness in her eyes.

"I- "He almost lied. He really did...But he just couldn't take it anymore...

"It's just that...yesterday's attack. The life swap! My mother! My father! It was so different! It felt so real! I was jealous! It felt warm! I missed her! And..." Everything came out like a jumble of words...his mind was racing faster than his mouth.

"Woah!" She place her free hand on his upper arm. It felt warm, "Why don't we go from one thing at a time?"

"I'm so sorry. It's just that I'm feeling so much and..." He sighed looking down, "I'm not very good with talking about my problems."

"That's why I'm here to help you." He could hear the smile in her voice. He looked up and reciprocated it.

"Okay..." He took a deep breath and sighed, "Do you mind if I close my eyes? It feels easier to talk that way."

"Sure. I don't mind."

"Thank you." _For not thinking that I'm a weirdo._

"So..." Closing his eyes, he cupped his hands to his cheeks anxiously, "When the life swap happened yesterday, I saw my mother."

He paused as she could feel her squeezing his upper arm, he smiled to show that he appreciated it.

"I mean, I knew that she wasn't actually her, but she felt so real. And I can't get her out of my head. It felt so strange seeing her again, and she was happy, not sick or secretive. Everyone was happy. I hated that it wasn't real. It made me realise how much I'm missing out in life and how much I miss her."

He opened his eyes letting his hands drop to his side as he took heavy breaths, the visions began to blur through his head again.

Marinette probably sensed his discomfort, she held both his hand and gave them a gentle squeeze.

"I'm sorry. I never really realised how hard things were for you until I was in the position myself."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." He assured her, "I forgot to ask. How was it?"

"It wasn't easy...I don't get how you deal with it every day."

"I'm used to it. My whole life has been like this."

"Well...I still think you're really brave, Adrien." She offered him her signature smile.

"T-thank you." His cheeks felt warm again, "Nobody has ever said that before."

"They should. It's the truth. People should compliment you more often."

His cheeks darkened. _He really didn't know how to deal with compliments. He didn't get them often enough._

"I'm honoured then." He straightened up as his smile widened, "To be complimented by you, your life makes me jealous, Marinette."

"Jealous?" She quirked her brow up at him.

"It's just that you have a lovely life. You have wonderful parents, wonderful friends and you're also multi-talented."

"Multi-talented? M-me-I." She spluttered and blinked rapidly, "I do have lovely parents and friends. Yes. But my life is not perfect. Nobody's is."

He felt that there was a deeper meaning behind her words; he wanted to question it. But he felt that it wasn't the right time. Some other day maybe...

"What I mean is that you have everything I lack in your life." It was the sad truth.

"Doesn't that mean you have everything I lack too?" She questioned. _Why was that truthful?_

"You do not want my half of the _everything_. You've seen how gloomy it is on the other side." _She did. Otherwise they wouldn't be having this conversation._

"I did but..." She gave his hand another squeeze, "It made you the person you are today."

"And what person would that be?"

"A wonderful person." _His cheeks reddened for the third time_ as she offered him her signature smile for the trillionth time. _There was something different about her today..._

"Uh..." He fake-coughed, "Thank you again." _She was really trying to feed him with praise today._

"They're facts." She winked as he shyly looked at her.

"Thank you for being so understanding." A genuine smile appeared on his face. She was listening to him this entire time.

"You already said thank you!" She chuckled.

"You deserve another one. I really do appreciate this."

"Well...I was worried about you." _Being worried means that they care._ He smiled at her, "I wanted to be the friend that I hadn't been in the past and I'm sorry for that. You needed support and I couldn't see that. Now, I promise that I'll always be here for you, Adrien. I'll always support you."

She squeezed his fingers as her words made him gasp. _She was the only one who did see..._

He didn't know whether the next thing he did was in the spur of the moment or if it was out of emotion. But he let go of her hands and pulled her into a hug.

He could hear her gasp as the umbrella dropped to the ground. It was raining all over them now. He couldn't care less. He'd find an excuse to tell his father.

"Thank you." He squeezed her, "Thank you for being so supportive."

He felt her sigh and relax into their embrace, wrapping her arms around him.

"Your Welcome." She whispered against his shoulder as she gently squeezed him tighter.

His heart stuttered as deja-vu crossed his senses. He felt something. Something familiar.

Hugging Marinette stirred something inside him, it felt like it was breaking out of the surface and pulsing through his veins. It was a feeling. A familiar feeling. A rare feeling. A feeling that reminded him of his mother's touch.

_It was love._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoyed writing this chapter : )  
> (I enjoy writing most but this one is just 100/10).


	20. Photoshoot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagg's just sick of Adrien's denial at this rate.

"Plagg." Adrien pondered. Not really saying his name...

"Uh...Adrien?" Plagg groaned against his Camembert, "You've said my name 20 times now without really telling me anything. What am I supposed to do with you?"

"She-I- "He buried his head under a pillow.

"There you go again...I don't get humans sometimes. How can they get so unresponsive all of a sudden? I mean...I have a lot to talk about!" Plagg cradled the piece of Camembert, "About my adoring piece of cheese!"

He ignored Plagg's comments as he proceeded to stroke his hands, glancing up at the ceiling.

"Stop doing that!" Plagg's eyes flew to Adrien stroking his arms.

Adrien finally snapped out of his trance and gave Plagg a annoyed look.

"It's not bothering you. There's no need to complain."

"Phew! I thought I was going to deal with your state forever."

Adrien wandered back to pondering in his head; his face going back to that same dreamy expression (much to Plagg's displeasure). Suddenly, something struck him and the boy bolt upright!

"Plagg! I'm going to see her tomorrow!"

"See who?" Plagg asked feigning innocence. _He was going to toy with this boy's mind for a little bit._

"Marinette!"

"So?"

"I-I-Do you think she thinks I'm weird now because of how I left?"

"You mean when you spluttered over your words, tried to dry her with your scarf, called her _cute_ and almost tripped over your own feet whilst leaving?"

Adrien's face reddened and buried his face in his hands, "Y-yeah."

"Hmmm...Mr. Smooth Guy, why did you do that anyways?" Plagg put on his interrogative voice.

"Uh-because- "His face reddened even more, "I'm allergic to rain?"

Plagg face-palmed at his owner. _Really? That was the most stupid thing Adrien had ever said till this date. And bleurgh...Adrien said a lot of stupid things. He was so in denial that he couldn't even say the truth out loud even if he knew perfectly well what was going on._

"Allergic to the rain. Right! I know exactly what's up with you."

"How would you?"

"Because unlike you..." Plagg put on his savage smirk, "I am not oblivious."

"I'm not that oblivious."

_Are you kidding me? That was the understatement of 10 kwami cycles._

"Prove it."

"How am I going to prove that?"

"Tell me why you were so _erratic_ after that hug." He was making it easy for Adrien.

"I- "Adrien took a pause and his face held a blank expression. And it was still red.

"Adrien!" Plagg rushed into hiding at the sound of Nathalie's voice. _Damn...this lady had perfect timing._

"You'll have a photoshoot tomorrow, so you'll be missing out from school. So, I expect you to be up early and off to the area. It's a particularly important shoot, alright?" _Well...there went seeing Marinette._

"Okay, Nathalie. But what about my notes for the day."

"I'll contact one of your friends to give them to you."

"Thank you, Nathalie!" Adrien said as she rushed off.

Plagg rushed out. _Their conversation wasn't over yet..._

"I have to go to bed, Plagg. Photoshoot tomorrow. It's important." Adrien told him before he could say anything.

Plagg fought the urge to groan. _One of these days, this boy really needed to accept facts._

* * *

Tomorrow. Same time. Same place. Plagg was caught up cackling as Adrien buried his face under a pillow...

The photoshoot was an absolute comedy fest! This is why this boy should accept facts beforehand so he wouldn't get himself in such awkward situations.

Adrien was modelling Gabriel raincoats today. _How convenient._ And he had a female model with him too.

The series of unfortunate events he'd been through were rather entertaining...

Event #1: When he had been asked which colour raincoat, he'd like to model in first, instead of saying the coat's colour. He had shouted _Marinette coat_ before going beet red in the face, and the faces of everyone around him were priceless.

Event #2: His hairstylist asked Adrien what hairstyle he'd prefer for the shoot (Like it mattered. He always stuck to the same one). Instead of an _appropriate_ answer, he had said _Pigtails_ which lead to the poor hairstylist's apparent confusion.

Event #3: Throughout the shoot, whenever, the female model tried to touch him. He'd jump away from her hold. And by jump, he meant jump, he'd literally jump in panic in the middle of the shoot. When the photographer told him to stop doing that, he'd agree but do it anyways like he didn't even know he was going to do it. _His poor oblivious owner._

Event #4: If that all wasn't bad, then this certainly was disastrous. He hissed during the shoot. He actually hissed at the female model during the shoot. Poor boy didn't even see it coming. The model had gotten furious and literally abandoned the shoot midway.

Adrien's father wasn't happy about all of this and when Nathalie asked him, he'd told her he wasn't feeling well. She actually believed him and let him rest. Couldn't blame her. Adrien was sick. Not the coughing type. But it was more of an emotional illness...

"Have something to say, Adrien?" Plagg asked his owner as he peeped his head out from the pillow to look at him.

"Hmmm...I think- "

"Oh please, don't say, _I think_!" Plagg shook his head, "Say whatever you're going to say without the _think_ bit."

Adrien sighed rising up to glance at the window. _Was he going to say it?_ He continued to stare at the stars and a smile slipped onto his face.

"I'm in love with Marinette."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Adrien didn't have Plagg, he would've never guessed it ; )


	21. Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Great ready for that sappiness you were all here for!

As soon as the words escaped from his mouth, he knew they were right.

_He loved Marinette._

He felt like he had always loved Marinette. He just didn't see it before. There was always something pulling him back from the truth.

It wasn't a _love at first sight_ scenario, it was more of _my feelings are growing stronger for you every day_.

"Plagg. What do I do?"

"That's actually a...very good question."

"I'm scared. What if she doesn't accept my feelings in return? Is it too early? What about that other guy?"

Plagg seemed to roll his eyes at Adrien as he flew to rest on the bed beside him.

"Kiddo, you'll never know if you don't try."

"I tried with Ladybug." Adrien looked at his feet, "It didn't work. What if things go the same with Marinette?"

"You don't know that. Maybe luck is on your side."

"Luck is never on my side." Adrien laid down on his bed, "Especially in love."

_Ladybug had rejected him multiple times. He couldn't seem to get over that; he even believed he still had lingering feelings for her._

_And Kagami...he knew that...she wasn't the one. She reminded him of Ladybug too much._

_But Marinette. She was a whole new different person. And she was amazing. He didn't love her because she reminded him of Ladybug. No...he loved her because she was Marinette._

Cute, clumsy and caring Marinette.

"I'm not going to give up on her, Plagg. Even if luck's not always on my side."

"Why is that?"

"Because I love her." He mused as Plagg gagged, "And she's worth fighting against luck."

"Ugh...I should've seen your sappiness coming, boy." Plagg moaned into his Camembert, "But go for it, kiddo!"

"Thanks, Plagg!" He gave his kwami a nod in the head as he looked towards the stars.

_I'm here for you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng._

* * *

Adrien kept glancing at the door of the classroom next morning. _Marinette hadn't arrived yet?_

Sure, she was late. But she wasn't this late!

"What's up, dude? You seem tense."

"Oh...it's nothing." He tried to sound casual, "Where's Marinette?"

"No idea. Better ask Alya for that!"

"Psst...Alya!" Adrien immediately turned whispering to her as Nino gave him a surprised look, "Where's Marinette?"

"I don't know. I've texted her. But she hasn't replied yet..."

"What?" _He said a bit too loudly._

"Adrien, Alya and Nino. Is there something you'd like to share with the class?" Miss. Bustier asked sternly.

"So- "

"Miss. Bustier." Adrien interrupted Nino, "Why isn't Marinette in class today?"

"That's a good question actually. I'm aware of her lateness but...today is quite queer. I have half the mind to contact her- "

"I'm here!" The door of the classroom swung open as a panting Marinette was revealed. Her hair was dishevelled, and she was holding her waists panting in exhaustion, "S-sorry for being late. I-I got l-lost on the way."

Before Miss. Bustier could answer, Marinette was rushing over to her seat when she tripped on the step. His Cat Noir reflexes kicked in as he stood up to stop her from falling flat on the step.

Unfortunately, he wasn't so graceful as Adrien because when he reached to grab Marinette, the impact of her fall sent him toppling backwards to his seat, Marinette going down with him.

As an end result, Marinette's body was slammed against his own in an embrace posture, one of his hands were wrapped around her back. They were half-leaning on his seat: And his other hand stopping them from toppling over Nino who shifted away from them.

And he thought he could _heroically_ and _smoothly_ catch her without making a big embarrassing scene, too bad this wasn't some fanfiction...

Marinette's eyes peeked out at his own as he gave her a sheepish smile. This proximity was driving his heartbeat crazy as anxious shivers rushed through his body. The warmth of her body slammed against him gave him comfort. It made him feel safe and warm.

_That was the crazy thing about love. It made you feel scared and nervous but also made you feel warm and appreciated. It was a feeling wrapped up in plenty of other feelings. Humans always complained that they wished they had magic. But when you had love, who needed magic? Love was magic._

"Hem, hem." Miss. Bustier awkwardly coughed breaking the moment,

Marinette jumped off him with beet red cheeks. His were flushed the same shade as he faced Miss. Bustier.

"As you've come, Marinette. We may go back to what we were doing." She stated as Marinette went back to her seat, "Page. 112 please."

The class broke out into some loud chatter with whispers and loud whistles, he buried his head on the desk as he could feel the eyes of his classmates on him.

_He had got it bad._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug? Marinette? Kagami?
> 
> Adrien...Why bother with girls when you could have cheese ; )


	22. Outfit Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akuma Strikes Again!

"Class, pleas- "

"Excuse me! Is this Miss. Bustier's class?" A woman who was standing near the door caught the class's attention.

She wore a white flowy dress and an odd crown. Oddly resembling some sort of sci-fi fantasy princess. Well, that was Marinette's imagination of one anyways.

"Y-yes." Their teacher stuttered but still held a brave stance, "What do you want?"

"Me? What I want is too big for you to handle but I guess I'll do you all a favour?" The woman swung the door shut behind them as she fired a white beam onto the floor with her weapon, as the whole class began shaking.

_Definitely an akuma._ How was she exactly going to transform though? Creeping out of the room was impossible with the akuma nearby. If only she could somehow hide and escape the room through the window so she could transform into Ladybug.

But it was too late for that. The screams and shrieks of students echoed through the room as it the bright light blinded them. She could feel her body rising up, it was floating in the air, it was like they had no gravity and it reminded her of the time they were aboard Startrain. This akuma seemed to have similar powers but what was she actually doing? Transporting them to space?

As the room whirled around, the akuma's voice bellowed above them, "Your clothing's ridiculous! Time for a makeover! Let's see what characters you'll fit for my world?" _Her world?_

"Hmm..." Marinette jumped aside as she saw that the akuma was right behind her. _Talk about creepy._ "I know what role is perfect you."

The akuma prodded her chin and gave her a sly smile as Marinete leaned back, her head swirling with a number of plans in case she striked.

"You seem to have a heart of gold. Helping others, soft and sweet, but there's something to you that's fiery and smart. I have the perfect role fit for you." The akuma blew tiny sparks at her face. She tried to dodge them but awkwardly failed with the proximity of the akuma.

She dodged back as the sparks covered her strangely surrounding her. Her blazer and jeans were swapped for a pink gown, as her hairstyle seemed to turn from pigtails to a bun. The dress was beautiful, it felt wonderful and it definitely had fine craftsmanship but that really wasn't the point...

"Perfect for you, Princess! Good luck finding your prince!" The akuma let out a girly giggle and whisked away. _She should've gone after her._

She could transform into Ladybug; it was impossible to see anything or anyone in this light. But should she take the risk? The Battle of the Miraculous had taught her enough.

"Marinette!" A familiar voice came from behind her.

"Adrien." She said whirling around. He was not in his school clothes anymore. He was wearing a suit. And he looked breath-taking. Especially with his sleeves rolled up. It gave him that handsome look. Not that he wasn't already handsome. It just brought out his features more. _Oh god, her cheeks were reddening now. There went her unreciprocated feelings again._

"You really do look like a princess." He smiled.

"T-thanks." Her cheeks reddened. _There went her stuttering again._ "You don't look bad yourself?"

"Really?" He leaned in closer surprisingly graceful despite the fact they were floating in mid-air, "Thank you, _ma princesse_."

He whispered that in her ear as shivers ran down her spine with deja-vu. He was dangerously close to her, his breath fanned off her cheeks.

_This isn't the right time, Marinette._ The sensible part of her said. _You have an akuma to face, you have to concentrate in defeating the villain._

"We have to go get help!" Marinette pushed him away.

"Why?"

"Um...there's an akuma out loose and we need to stop it!" She proceeded to float away when his hand grasped her arm and swung her around. His other hand enwrapped her waist as their faces were dangerously close again.

"You don't have to go anywhere." He slowly brushed a finger down her cheek, "Ladybug and Cat Noir can take care of that villain. Whilst the princess can stay with the prince."

Shivers ran down her spine as a finger brushed her lip. But there wasn't that same kind of electricity, that spark...something was missing...

"You're not Adrien!" She pushed away from him frowning, "Who are you?"

"I'm all you want!" He smirked at her as he angled close to her again leaning to whisper in her ear, "You don't need Adrien. All you need is me."

The not-Adrien put his hand on her waist again.

"I'm everything you need and more. I'm everything you've always dreamed of. I'm not the Adrien who has broke your heart. I'm not the Adrien who won't love you back. I'm not the Adrien who calls you _only a friend_. I am the _Adrien_ you want. I am the Adrien you dreamed of." He continued to make circular motions on her waist with his thumb seductively as he cupped his other hand to her cheek, "That Adrien will never love you back. He'll never be the one you always wished for. He'll always be little to your expectations; he'll never measure up to them. _Why want and wait for someone like that?_ When you could have all your wishes come true with me. You can live off me and feel that love he could never give you. Isn't that what you want?"

His appearance, proximity and the gleam in his eyes were tempting. But his words hadn't won her over, her feelings for Adrien were something so strong, that not even her expectations could match up to them.

"I do." She pushed away from his tempting gaze once again, "But I can't have that with you. You're not the real Adrien. They might say that expectations are always better than reality, but I love Adrien. And I love the real version of him, not a pigment of my imagination. I love the actual person and he might not be everything I hoped for, he might not even be interested. But I know that he is enough. And I don't think even my own expectations could replace him. So, I think it's time for you to leave."

The not-Adrien gaped at her frowned, "You're making the wrong decision."

"I am not." _She was sure of it._

His eyes widened and his mouth hung agape. Soon, he became one with the light.

She frowned. The akuma must use this white light to make people's desires and expectations come to life. That still didn't explain the strange outfits and the swirling of the room.

Though, it was all starting to come together, fictional clothing and dreams becoming alive? This whole akuma had a storytelling vibe to it, and it appears they were becoming characters in this akuma's fantasy tale.

At least, she now knew that she could transform in peace.

"Tikki, Spots On!" She yelled. _Huh?_ What? Oh no!

When they akuma had changed her outfit, her earrings had disappeared? Had they disappeared or become camouflaged or were they simply trapped in this akuma's spell.

Whatever it was, it was not good. This was the second time something had happened to her earrings this week. Luck either wasn't on her side or she was being completely irresponsible? Wait, was it because she was being irresponsible?

A violent shake interrupted her train of thought as she felt the light engulf around her. It was suffocating her senses? What was going to happen?

A loud crash sound resounded in the air as she felt her mind spinning and spinning, not in a dizzy way, but it felt that her imagination was somehow maneuvering her somewhere, some place. Crazy, fascinating and weird. All of those 3 at the same time.

Suddenly, her senses became more aware as she felt herself land on something soft. Just when she was going to get up, something else landed on her with a huge _oof!_ Talk about _ouch_ in itself.

That something fiddled around and looked up, "Sorry!"

_Hold on! She recognised that voice!_ She opened her eyes as her vision stirred into focus, and she saw...

"Bananoir?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, I think you all know that I love trolling people : )


	23. Banana Suit Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you turn Miraculous Ladybug into a Fantasy book...

"Yup. That's definitely me, _Princess_." Bananoir pulled her up.

"Don't call me that!" She said with a pout.

"Well...you are in a gown fit for a princess!"

"This gown is so not me. I'm not a princess at all, especially not in this situation." _The only costume she wanted was her Ladybug one!_

"You are a princess from your heart. Just trust the cat!"

"Thank you." She replied. _He should show his soft side more._ "But just saying Cat, you are a _mushy_ flirt."

"Hey!" He said indignantly, "But thanks for the pun!"

She groaned. _Did she have to use the word mushy?_

"Where are we?" Her eyes scanned the area, it as odd. Very odd. But very pretty.

It looked like they were pulled into some fantasy realm. She'd have imagined it as Fairy Land or something like that. Everything was sparkly: the purple trees, the lake, the green grass and even the clouds in the blue sky.

Music rang through the air in melodic symphonies, it felt good in her ears, rhythmic and serene, it felt one with the air.

"I'm not sure. This akuma seemed to transport us into some foreign realm."

She nodded. _How did he sneak in? Could he have-No! Don't even think about it, Marinette._

"Where is the akuma?" _If only she was Ladybug right now!_

"Not your concern, Princess. Leave the work to a superhero!" He bowed down and she could hear his proud smirk through his voice. _She wasn't amused though._

"I am not a real Princess." She grunted but he was already off crossing over the bridge on the lake.

_There was no way she was going to let him face the akuma by himself. It was too risky. Ladybug or not, she was still his partner._

"Hey, Cat Noir! Please wait up! I can help you!" She rushed to catch up with him.

Bananoir turned around and she could hear his sigh.

"That's nice of you, Marinette. But that's really not necessary."

"Superhero or not. But travelling alone in this realm of the akuma isn't wise. Especially if you're working to defeat her." She argued back, "Plus, since you're in your banana suit right now, I'm guessing that you don't have your powers for some reason. So, that's a disadvantage there. Besides, what if Ladybug can't show up here? How are you going to face the villain alone?"

"You don't think I can fight the villain by myself?" She could hear a bit of hurt in his voice. _That is not what she meant._

"No. I don't think anyone can fight this villain by themselves. You need back-up. Please trust me, Cat Noir." She stepped closer so he could see the determination in her eyes.

"Fine." Bananoir replied after a few moments, "But don't do anything that could put you at risk, okay?"

"I won't." She assured him.

They proceeded ahead with a silence in the air. Marinette tried looking around for clues to where the akuma might be, but all she saw was the sparkly forest. If only there was more of a clue ahead...

"Why can't I see anyone else here?" Marinette looked around, "Is everyone okay?"

"They must be. I don't even know how big this forest is anymore. If only there was a way to do quicker tracking..."

_He was right. It could possibly take forever tailing this realm, considering the fact that they were both powerless. But they honestly didn't have that long..._

Costumes. Realms. Magic. I definitely seemed to be pulled out of a fairy-tale.

_Wait a minute...a fairy-tale?!_ That was it.

"Hey! I have an idea!" Marinette squeaked. _It had to work!_ "Close your eyes and think about something you want. Don't try to go personal though..."

"Uh...okay..." Bananoir sounded confused.

Whilst he concentrated, she focused on the music listening carefully to the patterns of the notes.

She tried humming along with the music, trying to get every note right...

_No...that wasn't right._

She hummed again, trying to work it through.

_Clearly, that wasn't working...._

She opened her eyes indignantly. She was missing an important element...

Her eyes lingered on the trees. Why were the purple? _Surely, it could be a mere part of the fantasy realm, but something told her that wasn't quite it..._

She did something stupid, she reached to the lowest branch and plucked a leaf out of the tree and put it in her mouth, biting it. _It was a stupid thing to do but she needed to try this..._

Once swallowing the throat, she felt a burning feeling in her throat. Now, this necessarily wasn't a bad feeling, but it was a feeling that was guiding her...

Her mouth flew agape as she sang the symphony in the air once again. This time, she could see white sparks swirl around her. _Yes!_ She directed the sparks at Bananoir hoping they'd do what she intended to happen.

The sparks swirled around him as the shaped themselves into... _ice cream?_

"You were thinking about ice cream?"

"What? It's delicious!" Cat Noir's voice said sheepishly, "How did you do that?"

"I was thinking more of the lines of how this was connected to fairy-tales, and I decided to think out of he box for this one. Firstly, I found the music in the air strange and I sensed something familiar about it, feeling like the white magic that brought us here. I already knew that this magic could make thoughts come to life so I decided to conjure it up, to see whether it would work."

"Genius! So, are you saying this magic is everywhere then?"

"Yup. If you want to conjure it, eat a leaf!" She handed him an extra leaf she plucked.

"Is it safe?" Nervousness tingled his voice.

"Definitely." She nodded.

"There's a problem though. I can't eat this leaf!"

"Why not?" She narrowed her brows.

"My costume is covering my mouth."

"Oh." _She had completely forgotten about that._ "I'll turn around. Why not try removing your costume and eating that leaf?"

"I would but..." He awkwardly fiddled with his fingers, "I am not wearing anything underneath."

"Ohh." She felt her cheeks burn red. "Then, we'll just have to stick with me being the magic conjurer."

She turned around trying to rid the mental image from her head as they walked forward. The colour of the trees began to go from purple to blue. Soon, they were filled with blue sparkly things.

"Do you think the magic could have different abilities?" Bananoir pondered, "And would you be able to access the abilities with different-coloured leaves?"

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea! It's worth a shot." She grinned reaching up to pluck a blue leaf out.

Putting it in her mouth, she began humming the song as she felt the magic swirl around her again." _The only thing they needed to know was what it was used for?_

She used it on Cat Noir, but the ball of energy quickly went to him and flew back to her.

"Huh...was it supposed to do that? I'm confused."

"I'm not sure. She glanced at the magic ball." _Why would it bounce back like that?_

She tried using it on herself, but it didn't budge at all. _What was going on? Did it work?_

She turned to the tree and tried using the magic on the tree, but it did the same thing: flying to the tree then returning back to her.

"Why does it keep doing that?" She asked in frustration.

"It seems pretty eager to trace our steps!"

"That's it." His words were right, "Tracing. That's its power!"

"We can trace the akuma with this!"

"I know." Marinette concentrated picturing the akuma in her head, trying her best to use her mind power so the magic could connect with her memory.

The white sparks swirled around as it began wrapping itself into a ball, as it began to illuminate a path for them ahead.

"Yes!" Cat yelled, "Great job, Princess!"

"Thanks!" She chirped as they followed the sparkly path up ahead. _This was adventurous._

"Any bets on the fact that this akuma is imaginative?"

"Imaginative. That's totally an understatement. She must be a writer or an artist. This is too inspiring." _Literally. This akuma had seemed passionate about her work._

"Is that a cave up ahead?" He asked as they stopped in their tracks.

"Seems to be." _Problem?_

"Stay behind me. Horrible things happen to fairy-tale characters in caves. Wouldn't want the princess to get scratched?" He shielded her with his banana head.

"I can't take that seriously coming from a banana." _It was humorous indeed._ "Also, you read too many books. It's just a cliché trope."

"You never know." She rolled her eyes at him as he continued to shield her as they entered the cave following the path.

It would've been too dark to see if it weren't for the magic path leading them. Also, the cave looked more like the sewers back in Paris, so it wasn't that bad.

She should've taken her words back. Water trickled her feet and they were on a slope, if not careful, they could trip.

"Be careful!" He warned her.

"I wi- "She _spoke too soon._ Stupid _princess-y_ shoes. And her bad motor control.

She was now sliding down the slope after an extremely uncomfortable trip. Rocks scraped her skin, and she was sure that she had lots of bruises. _Ouch._

The torturous slide finally came to an end when she landed into a pool of water. Well...not just any water. Glowing water.

She splashed out onto the surface as the water tickled her senses alive. Seriously, it was surprisingly refreshing after that rock-slide.

Wait a moment.

She looked downwards and realized she wasn't in her princess gown anymore. She was back in her normal clothes!

A thrill of excitement rung in her! _Yes!_ She exuberantly reached up to her ears to feel them, to feel her precious earrings...

They were back! The water must have reverted the costume magic! _She could transform into Ladybug again!_ Was Ti-

"WATCH OUT!" Cat's voice yelled. He was tumbling down the slope too.

She was too late though. He splashed into the water and knocked right into her pushing them both back against the cave wall.

He whispered a breezy ' _sorry'_ as he lifted his head from her cheek.

Her mouth fell agape as she stared at him in complete shock. _What? Oh my..._

Standing in front of her wasn't Bananoir but instead it was Adrien Agreste.

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CLIFFHANGER!!  
> Enjoy waiting : )


	24. Kwami Visits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aftermath

"Uhhhh...Hi?" Adrien said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

Marinette just stared at him and blinked a couple of times with her mouth open. _Eee...this wasn't good._

"Oh no." He swam backwards as he buried his head in his hands, "This wasn't supposed to happen. This could endanger you and...Ladybug's not going to be happy when she finds out either!"

' _This wasn't good.'_ was a complete understatement. This was disastrous.

"I- "Marinette finally opened her mouth, "You're probably right. This is bad. Not that I know anything about superhero rules, that is, but...er...oh god...I really don't know want to say. Must. Process. This."

Adrien peeked at her leaning back and staring upwards at the ceiling of this rocky cave. _Oof._

"I think...I should transform into Cat Noir since I have my ring back. The faster we're done with this akuma, the better. She seems like a handful." Adrien trailed off awkwardly still scratching the back of his neck.

"Plagg, Claws Out!" The green light flashed over him. _Thank god that it worked this time!_

He caught Marinette staring at curiously leaning against the rock, he blinked confused.

"What?"

"Oh...nothing." She looked away with a hint of pink on her cheeks, "It's just that seeing you transform is...weird..."

She went back to pondering and staring at the ceiling. He couldn't really blame her. It wasn't everyday that you found out that one of your friends (hopefully something more, someday right) was one of Paris's famous superheroes.

"I...let's get out of this cave." _And pool, he stared down at the water._

"Wait..." Marinette called after him as he jumped back onto the rocky ground. "You would need Ladybug to defeat the villain, right?"

"Yeah...but she's not here." _Odd question._

"But...what if she was?" She said so quietly that he almost didn't hear it.

"Huh?" He tilted his head on confusion.

Marinette sighed as she was nervously fidgeting with her fingers, biting her lip, and avoiding eye-contact with him. _Did she know who Ladybug was?_

"Tikki, Spots On!" Upon those word, pink light surrounded Marinette as he gasped and witnessed her transformation.

A few moments later, where Marinette stood, was Ladybug.

_Oh...who was he kidding? Marinette WAS Ladybug._

_Wait..._

_Marinette was Ladybug!_

_MARINETTE ACTUALLY WAS LADYBUG!_

_Two girls he was in love with...Uh...he meant one...But that meant..._

"Ma- "Ladybug leaped over to him on her yo-yo and hushed him by putting a finger own his mouth. _Don't kiss it, Adrien!_

"Don't say anything. Please. At least.... not yet..." She said, "We have to face an akuma and we must put our entire focus on saving Paris as of now. We'll come back to this later."

She removed her finger from his mouth so he could speak. The ghost of it still made his lips tingle eagerly though.

"Okay, milady." _Aww...how much he missed that nickname..._ "Let's kick some akuma butt!"

She rolled her eyes at him with a slight smile on her face. He must say, he was rather good at lightening the mood with his humour. But he knew that this identity reveal wasn't a topic to leave behind.

* * *

The next day after the akuma attack, Adrien was in his bed gazing at the window. _He hadn't spoken to Marinette, who was ALSO LADYBUG,_ ever since the akuma attack. There was this awkward air of space between them ever since the reveal...he didn't like it...but...obviously, both of them were going through a hard time.

"Plagg?" He noticed his kwami going to the window with his piece of Camembert, "Where are you going?"

"Uh...nowhere." Plagg lied as Adrien crossed his arms pouting, "Okay fine. I'm going over to meet SugarCube!"

"SugarCube?"

"Uh...Tikki...Ladybug's kwami!"

"Wait, why do you have a cute nickname for her!" Adrien couldn't help but smirk at Plagg.

"Uh-what-ugh. You sappy child! It's not what you're thinking! I call her that because she loves eating sweet stuff like macarons and cookies."

"Sure. That's adorable." Adrien teased as Plagg gagged muttering something about how sappy he was...

"Wait!" Adrien yelled before Plagg called out, "Your going to Marinette's." _It just struck him._

"Yeah. You know that. That's actually why I'm goin- "

"Could you maybe find out how she'd doing?" Adrien cut Plagg off fidgeting with his ring.

"Sure, kiddo, but don't drag me into your love matters." Plagg said before zooming off.

He didn't say anything. He was nervous. He didn't know whether Plagg talking for him to Marinette was a good thing or not...but...really...this was a mess.

* * *

Meanwhile...

"-at should I do, Tikki? I'm supposed to be guardian! I should know what to do! If Master Fu were here, he'd probably take away our miraculous. But I can't do that to Cat-Adrien, he's too important to me and for the team. We're in this together. We're partners. Ugh! Why is this so hard?" Marinette slammed her head into the pillow as Tikki in her hair to nuzzle and comfort her.

"Will you talk to him?"

"I-I don't know if I'm ready yet! I want to talk to him but at the same time...I'm lost..." Marinette gazed up to look at the red polka dot box in front of her, "I'm a terrible guardian."

"Hey! Don't say that, Marinette! The responsibility was shoved onto you. And you're going through a lot of pressure. At this age, you should be proud of yourself for making so much progress as Ladybug. Being guardian can be hard, but you'll learn along the way, Marinette. You will."

"Thanks, Tikki!" Marinette smiled snuggling her kwami. _She didn't know what she'd do without Tikki. She was one of the greatest gifts, life had ever given her in these hard times. Tikki always knew how to put a smile on her face._

"If you're concerned, do you want me to check on Adrien for you?" Tikki suggested

"You really would? Would that be fine?"

"Of course. I'll be back shortly."

"Oh...thank you so much, Tikki! You're the best!" Marinette wrapped Tikki into a warm hug.

"I'll be back." Tikki beamed giving Marinette a kiss on the nose before zooming away.

_She hoped that their conversation would go alright._

* * *

A few minutes after Tikki left, Marinette heard a slight tap on her window.

_Was Tikki back already?_

Marinette went towards to the window. Instead of seeing Tikki, she saw...

" _Plagg?"_ Marinette said as he phased in.

"Hey! Where's Suga-Tikki?"

"Oh...uh...she actually left to your place."

"What? Really, no! Why is this turning into a human movie cliché? Don't tell me we'll be jumping between houses back and forth till we meet!" Plagg groaned.

"Uh..." Marinette didn't know what to say. Instead, she asked the thing she needed to know, "How's Adrien doing?"

"Oh my god. You humans. He wanted me to ask you how you were doing!"

"He did?"

"Yup. He did. So, don't make that lovesick expression that you'll do." Plagg said as Marinette blushed.

"I'm not l-lovesick." She crossed her arms and pouted, the pink on her cheeks was giving her away though, "I've told Cat Noir plenty of times that I'm not interested in him in that way."

"Hmm...stubborn and lovesick. You two are definitely made for each other. You're even mushier than my piece of Camembert." Marinette's blush deepened at Plagg's comment.

"I- "

"Don't even try and make excuses, girl! Unlike him, I'm not oblivious." Plagg took a bite into his Camembert.

"Hey! He's only oblivious because of the sheltered life he's lived. With being home-schooled nearly his entire life and having little to no friends till he started school this year. You can't blame him for being oblivious. Not with the sheltered household he had." Marinette went on a rant. _He's opened up to her about it hesitantly. He obviously struggled. She'd seen how his life was during the Inverter akuma. She knew she struggled. She honestly wondered how he balanced between being Adrien Agreste and Cat Noir. He was too good of a person._

"I know." Plagg said gravely, "I know my kiddo has gone through a lot, I've seen him weep over his dead mother and mope about his father's restrictions. He has little freedom in his life. Being Cat Noir grants him that freedom. The freedom to explore. The freedom to have fun. The freedom to do good. _The freedom to be happy._ So, don't think about trying to take- "

"I'm not going to." Marinette answered. "That's something I'll never consider. He's my partner too. And I care about him."

"Good." Plagg nodded as a common sense of understanding passed between them, "You're both partners for a reason. Cheese doesn't pop out just like that. It needs someone to make it. One half is never complete without the other. Even food understands that."

"I know." Marinette nodded, "We're an irreplaceable team."

"I'll take your word for it." Plagg flew towards the window seemingly leaving.

"Oh...and...Marinette?" Plagg called to her. "Take care of the kiddo. Also, please talk to him."

"I will." Marinette assured the kwami as he shared one last nod and flew out the window.

* * *

"Tikki! Where's Plagg?"

"Shouldn't he be here?" The kwami asked confused.

"He went to visit you."

"Oh...and I came here." Tikki shook her head, "Anyways, Plagg will be fine. My owner is at home. Besides, I've come to talk to you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. My owner wanted me to check on you."

"Oh...she did." Adrien looked to the side, "I'm fine. I'm a bit confused though."

"I think we all are." Tikki affirmed, "This identity reveal was unexpected, and my owner is contemplating through a several options."

"She is? What is she planning to do?"

"She's not sure. There's nothing much to do in this situation except take precautions."

"Oh..." Adrien said, "She's not planning to take away my miraculous, is she?"

"No! She never would." Tikki assured him, "Besides, you're a good Cat Noir, Adrien. She needs you."

"Oh..." He stated again as pink dusted his cheeks, "Thanks. How is she doing?"

"Fine." Tikki hesitated, "She is a bit overwhelmed though."

"Overwhelmed? Please elaborate."

"Ladybug faced difficulties balancing between her normal and superhero life in the past. Now, since she's become guardian, she has even more on her plate. She won't talk about it much, but she honestly does so much work that I can see the strain in her eyes..."

"She's very hardworking." _One of the reasons he loved her._

"Yeah. She always tries her best to get work done and please others."

"That's an understatement. She does go through a lot. Helping everyone on a daily basis. Saving the city at the same time. Being a responsible Ladybug. Being a caring friend. Being an awesome class president. Yeah, you're right, she has a lot on her plate...how does she deal with it?" _It was admirable. Marinette's determination and sense of good was amazing. She always looks out for others. How was it even possible to be this good? Also, the more he realised, the more she'd bottle up her feelings. She'd rarely ever tell him anything negative about her life. She'd only hint it._

"She takes care of others more than herself. That's how she is."

"She should take care of herself. There are more than many people out there who'd help her." _Especially himself._ "But she doesn't...you're right...that's just how she is."

_He wanted to help her. He wanted to care for her. He wanted to love her._

"That's why she's such an awesome owner. One of the best I've had." Tikki smiled.

"She stands for admiration." Adrien agreed, "She just needs to let other people take care of her more."

"Agreed. She deserves it."

"We'll be there for her, right?" Adrien glanced towards Tikki.

"Always." Tikki smiled at him, "I know I can count on you, Adrien."

The kwami zoomed out of his window with those words.

Adrien's heart fluttered as he stared to the ground. Whatever happened in the future, he knew that he'd always be there to save Marinette. _Always._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Tikki are my best friend and me. (I'm Tikki though and my best friend is definitely Marinette. As usually I'm the one giving her advice).  
> Adrien and Plagg on the other hand are me and my sister. Once again, I'm Plagg without the cheese addiction


	25. Cheek Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous Number Reveal...

Marinette sat on the school steps waiting for Adrien. _She wasn't late today_. In fact, she had made sure to wake up super early so she could talk to him! (Also, she might've thrown away his schedule, but she still remembered it by heart!).

After 10 minutes of sitting there, a familiar black car pulled out in the front. She stood up as it approached clutching the straps of her backpack nervously.

Adrien got out of the car with his bodyguard. _Oh shoot, she had completely forgotten about his bodyguard following him everywhere inside school now. How would they talk?_

His eyes faced her as he gasped and gave her a little wave. She smiled and awkwardly waved back, he approached to meet her on the staircase.

"Hi, Marinette." He said. His tone was slow and careful.

"Hi..." She responded eyeing his bodyguard behind him, "Shall we go to class?"

"Of course."

They were quiet throughout their walk to class. It was rather awkward actually, but they were too afraid to say anything with the gorilla around. _Even if they were dying to say so much..._

Besides, they wouldn't be able to talk about this in class either, it was too much of an important matter. The fate of Paris depended on it. _Dramatic much?_ Not really...

* * *

"You'll have to produce a portfolio on WW2 in France. This is especially important for your grade and I expect a lot of effort from all of you. You should make sure it's detailed with all the impacts, significant figures during the war, and the allies that tried to help. Some vital background information is helpful too. I'll be sending in email to all of you regarding this project." Miss Bustier explained the students exchanged anxious looks, some of them groaned. "Fortunately, this isn't an individual project but it's pairwork instead. And yes, just this once, I'll be letting you choose your partners because of your excellent behaviour this term."

The class cheered as some of them started picking their partners already.

"Please let me know who your partner will be by the end of the day. Also, you'll have a week's time to submit this."

Marinette turned to Alya. They were partners for mostly every project, and this shouldn't be any different.

"So, we'll start together on this project?"

"Actually..." Alya started awkwardly, "I promised Nino to work with him on the next pair project. You don't mind, right?"

"No...it's fine." _Who would she work with?_

"You can work with Adrien. After all, I am taking his usual partner." Alya nudged towards him as Adrien looked and gave Marinette a shy smile.

She smiled back. They were already superhero partners. They should be able to work well for a little project as well.

"Would you like to be my partner?" Marinette asked him. _Too ironic._

"I already am." He replied as she tried not to chuckle.

"Good. Are you free tomorrow? It's a holiday anyways so we can start working on the project at my house."

"I'm pretty sure I am free, but I'll ask my dad." He smiled and pulled his phone out.

She heard her own phone thing as she pretended to be naïve, taking it in her hands.

**Adrien <3** : Or I'll just come to your house as a certain someone ; )

Marinette sighed and shook her head. She still had a heart on his name?

**Marinette:** I don't think that's safe. Also, we shouldn't be talking about this here. What if someone got hold of our phones?

**Adrien <3 : **Sorry, milady.

He sent her a picture of a cat with apologetic kitten eyes as she chuckled at it. Alya and Nino were giving them queer looks so they should probably stop now.

**Marinette:** Delete all these messages. I'll do the same.

**Adrien <3**: As you wish.

Marinette quickly deleted all the messages from her phone as she turned to look at the board ignoring Alya's curious stare. _Balancing between their identities was going to be harder than she thought_.

* * *

"Adrien."

He turned around to see Lila standing behind him. _Uh...what did she want?_

"Do you have a partner for the project?" She asked sweetly, "Because I really need to catch up on this topic and I was wondering if you could partner up with me to help."

"Uh. Sorry, Lila. But I already have a partner. It's _Marinette_." He emphasized on the last part a bit too much like he was referring to something else.

"Oh..." Her eyes darkened and he didn't like the way she was staring at him, "Well, you might have to change your mind then."

A sneer smirk plastered her face as he narrowed his eyes at her. Lila wasn't the most likable person, but he was giving her chances because honestly, he was too idealistic and believed that everyone deserved a chance. However, he didn't like it when he tried to hurt the people he loved. That was something he wouldn't tolerate.

"What do you mean?" He asked her.

She pulled out her phone and reached out to show him a picture. It was a picture of him and Marinette kissing. Well, it wasn't really them. But it was the alternate timeline versions of them, that was the same picture Kagami had. It made sense who the anonymous number was now.

"I will post this online for everyone to see if you don't be my partner for the project. And the caption will be 'Adrien Agreste was cheating on his ex-girlfriend when they were still together behind everyone's backs this entire time' Not too good for your reputation, right?"

"That's not us. That's when the Alternate Timeline akuma happened."

"They don't know that." Lila sneered, "Do you need more convincing? Cause I bet after this, no fashion brand would ever accept Marinette in. Her dreams will be shattered as well as both of your reputations. That's a risk you're not willing to take for a project, right?"

"I- "He didn't want to be Lila's partner. But he didn't want to ruin Marinette's chances either. This snake had it clearly all planned out so sneakily, and she knew how to strike him in the areas it hurt. And it was working...

"Li- "Before he could say anything else, something crazy just happened in front of his eyes.

Marinette crashed into Lila pulling them both to the ground. The phone dropped out of Lila's hands to his feet, Marinette looked at him from the ground as she tussled to keep Lila down. She beckoned at the phone.

He quickly got the message and grabbed it. Since it was already unlocked, he did what he good and quickly deleted the photo before Lila got up to her feet.

"No!" She screamed as he gave her the phone back.

_Adrien & Marinette: 1 Lila: 0_

"Oops. I'm sorry for being so clumsy, Lila." Marinette said rubbing her head looking apologetic. _Ahh...that's why he loved that girl!_

"You...you'll pay! You may have got away this time! But the war is still on!" Lila raged at them as she sashayed away out of the locker room.

"That was amazing, Marinette!"

"Nope. Not amazing. Be glad that I was eavesdropping and happened to be a super-heroine and clumsy at the same time."

"No...thank you, milady." He smiled as something burned inside him. He leaned in to gave her a quick peck on the cheek, the gasp he heard from her mouth was satisfying, and his lips tingled with the ghost of the warmth of her skin when he parted away.

"Thanks to you too, Adrien. For always looking out for me. I knew you would've said yes even if you didn't want to. You're too thoughtful." She leaned in reciprocating his cheek kiss. His skin burned where her lips brushed against his cheek.

They were both smiling, staring at each other, and blushing like idiots after the kiss. His heart fluttered as he looked at Marinette. His Lady. He felt complete.

"I better get going. I'll submit our names to Miss. Bustier on the way." Marinette said, "See you tomorrow at my place, Adrien."

She waved at him fiddling with her backpack. It was an adorable nervous habit that she had.

"See you tomorrow." He waved back, "It's a date."

Marinette froze at the door, looked back, and rolled her eyes at him.

"We'll see, kitty." She said playfully before leaving.

She was probably just joking but...he so wished he saw their 'date' the same way that he did. Hopefully, his wish would come true. Someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're not messing with them in this fanfic, Lila!


	26. Sick Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Marinette : (

"Hi, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng! Where's Marinette?" Adrien asked entering the bakery so they could work on their project.

"Oh...Adrien! I forgot you were coming today. Marinette still seems to be asleep in her room."

"Am I early?" _He was sure he told Marinette that he was coming at this time._

"No, she's supposed to be up by now, I'll call her." She turned to the staircase, "MARINETTE! ARE YOU AWAKE, DEAR?"

_No response._

"Uh...she must have not heard me. Let's go and check upstairs."

Adrien nodded anxiously. _Was she in her room? This was not a good time to be out as Ladybug. But there was no akuma or patrol for sure!_

* * *

"Marinette." She felt her mom nudging her hand.

"One second, mom. One second." She groggily rolled over.

"Marinette, Adrien is here! You have to work on your project!"

"What?" She bolted upright and rubbed her eyes open.

Behind her mom, Adrien stood there, and he was giving her a soft smile. _Oh...how embarrassing! Ways to embarrass yourself in front of your superhero partner!_

"O-okay! I'm up! I'll go get ready!" She said as pink dusted her cheeks.

* * *

Marinette got out of the shower, Adrien was waiting for her in the chair.

"Your mom left some croissants for you to have whilst we work." He pointed to the plate on her desk.

"Uh...yeah! Thanks for letting me know!" She sat on the other chair, "Should we get to work on the research?"

He nodded, "Sure."

* * *

"Do you think we should use this picture or that one?" He asked, pointing to the screen.

_No response._ She was staring at the blank page of her notebook as if she was intrigued by it.

"Marinette." He shook her hand.

"Ah-um-what?" She jumped back on her seat turning to face him.

"Were you paying attention?"

"Uh...I was paying attention when you were suggesting that we use A3 instead on A4."

That was ages ago! He had said a lot more since then. She was awfully spacey today, and quiet.

"Marinette, are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"You keep zoning out. You never do that when we're working on something. You're usually focused. It's not like you, milady."

"Well..." She crossed her arms protectively around her chest, "I can zone out, you know, even when doing something important. Maybe you don't know me as well as you thought you did."

"Uh...okay." He frowned at her. _That shouldn't have hurt that much._

She then snapped out of her stubborn trance, opened her eyes and facepalmed her head against the desk.

"I'm so sorry for that, Adrien." She apologised, "You didn't deserve that. I'm sorry I just feel a bit drowsy and dizzy today."

He squeezed her hand. _It did feel a bit warmer than usual..._

"You're not sick, are you?" He reached to put his other hand across her forehead. It was warm too.

"I d-don't think so."

"She was wielding too many miraculous last night!" Tikki alerted him, peeking out of her purse.

"What? Why would you do that? You know that transforming those many times is exhausting."

"I was checking if the miraculous were working properly. To see if they weren't damaged from the Battle of the Miraculous!"

"You could've checked without transforming!" _That was dangerous. She shouldn't be wearing herself down like that._

"Yeah but it's better to be safe than sorry!" She argued back.

"Look, Marinette." Adrien squeezed her other hand, "I understand that our duty is to protect Paris but please don't do things that could hurt you!"

"I'm sorry, Adrien. But I'm guardian now. This is my responsibility. Protecting the miraculous from any harm."

He frowned at her and bit his lip. She was so careless when it came to herself, and it hurt.

"Let's take a break. You need some rest."

"I'm fine, Adrien." She replied holding her head. _He wasn't going to believe that._

"My mom was sick before she disappeared." _He had to say it. He needed to let it out._

"Oh...I..." She drooped her head and looked to the side, "I'm sorry, Adrien."

"Nah. There's nothing to be sorry about." He fiddled with his ring, "Sit on the chaise. I'll check your temperature."

She was hesitant and nodded but made her way towards the chaise, "It's in the first drawer, by the way."

"Thanks!" He said. Turning to pull out the thermometer.

"Here." Adrien handed her the thermometer as she put it under her tongue. As they waited for the reading, he sat beside her, and took her hand in his.

She looked towards him and he could see the smile in her eyes. He hated when people were sick.

The beeping of the thermometer interrupted the moment. She took it out and glanced at the reading.

"So..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have this feeling that someone feeling sick reminds Adrien of his mom before she disappeared...


	27. Naps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short and sweet.

"Don't worry! It's all good." She showed him the thermometer, "It's normal."

"Good." He slightly smiled, "But I still think you should rest a bit."

"It's only a little bit of dizziness." _This wasn't the time to be stubborn._

"Please Marinette." He said in an insisting tone giving her a pout and kitten eyes.

"Fine!" She went over to the bed and covered herself with the blanket. Her eyes were strained on the ground as she anxiously rubbed her hands. _What could she be thinking?_

"You don't look very relaxed." He took a seat beside her.

"Uh..." She nervously chuckled. "It's nothing."

Her head rested on his shoulder; his heart lurched in his chest.

"Nothing?" His voice was brushed with concern. _He didn't want to push on her boundaries, but he was also worried._

"I just...don't want to talk about it right now." She confirmed, "Can we stay like this for a bit?"

"Sure." He rested his head on hers as they gazed forward, not really looking at anything, but rather pondering. _If she didn't want to tell him anything, fine, he respected her choices. But he was here to show her support anyways..._

"Thanks for being so understanding, Adrien."

"Well, that's what we always do, right? Support each other. As friends. And partners." _And hopefully something more someday_ , "We'll always have each other's backs, won't we?"

"Always." He could hear the smile in her voice that caught onto his face too, "It's you and me against the world, Kitty."

"You and me against the world, milady." _He was fighting the urge not to purr._

"Has..." She paused.

"What?"

"Has this reveal changed anything between us? You know...our friendship or partnership?"

"What...no..." _She was still the girl of his dreams._ "You said it yourself, milady. You and me against the world! Nothing could change that. Unless, you think otherwise..."

"No!" She denied immediately, "There's nothing wrong with you! Not saying that there's ever something wrong with you-um-what I was saying is that..."

She awkwardly paused from her rambling, "Can I have a restart please?"

"Course." He chuckled as she groaned. _She was awkwardly confident. That was his lady for you! (Well...not his lady yet but...hopefully?)_

"Anyhow, what I'm trying to say is..." She deeply exhaled, "I like the fact that you're Cat Noir, Adrien. It helps me understand you better."

"Understand me better?"

"You know, it's this strange feeling in your head. That two different people are piecing together into one, in your mind. It's difficult because you're not used to it. But as time passes, you realise how much sense it makes and how stupid you were for not guessing it in the past..."

"Yeah." _He couldn't have said it better,_ "I get that feeling. It's weird but refreshing at the same time. It feels like we were blind for some time but finally, we've been awakened!"

"Yeah." She chuckled, "Blind is correct. Besides, there's no one else who would talk about strange head feelings with me?"

"Oh, are you saying I'm weird?" He faked hurt.

"Noo..." She giggled and yawned; _someone was getting sleepy_. "I'm just saying that the conversations we have seem so refreshing. It's not like that with everyone. Just you."

"So, you're saying I'm special then!" He smirked, though, he was getting genuine shivers down his spine.

"Something like that." _For someone so stubborn, she'd slightly admitted something!_ "I'm glad it's you, Adrien."

She could feel her head shift, so it was laid on his chest as another yawn escaped her.

"I'm glad it's you too." He said before resting his hand on the back of her head.

"Mhm..." She hummed. He could sense her sleepiness as he slowly played with the strands of her hair.

Soon enough, he could feel her heavy breaths against his chest. She was fast asleep. And he could feel his own eyes beginning to close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We should count how many time the word 'friend' has been used in this book : )


	28. Care Package

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Advice

Adrien yawned and opened his eyes. He looked towards his shoulder: Marinette was still asleep.

Looking at her slumbering form made a smile creep up his face. He bent his face low and leaned in placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. Everything felt fluttery. _Was this how love felt like..._

_It felt good._

He felt his cheeks redden as his eyes lingered on her. _It was fine. At least she couldn't see the way he was looking at her right now...though...did he want her to see?_

"Boy, you should see your face right now!" Plagg's comment made his cheeks redden even more.

"Plagg! Ssh! You'll wake her up! Also, you ruined the moment!" Tikki scolded Plagg. _Right...he forgot they weren't alone._

"How long have I slept for?"

"Eh...an hour or so?" Plagg said, "But you know, you have the entire day, boy!"

"Yeah. Good!" He was allowed to stay for the entire day because of the project. Cool!

"What do I do now? Let her sleep more?"

"Your choice, boy."

"Yeah. She needs in her rest anyways."

Adrien gently removed Marinette from his shoulder and laid her down on her bed slowly, so she wouldn't wake up. Tikki cooed an _aw_ whilst Plagg just gagged with a groan at him. _Ugh...despite the fact that kwamis were thousands of years old, they were the most embarrassing beings ever._

He sat on the floor with his knees crossed beside Marinette's bed. _Hmm...what should he do in the meantime?_ Hey! Why not make something for Marinette! She always was giving other people things she made even when there was no particular occasion! So, why not do the same for her!

Like make her a care package...

But...

_How would he do it?_

He glanced towards the kwamis resting on the chaise. Hmm...hopefully, his embarrassing kwami friends would have some advice for him!

"You know..." He looked towards the ceiling whilst talking to the kwamis, "Say, you wanted to make a care package for a certain someone? And you aren't exactly great at handmade craft, what do you do?"

"Certain someone? Eh..." Plagg smirked, "We're not stupid, Adrien."

"Right." _He knew that._

"What do I do?"

"Hmm...we might be thousands of years old. But we're not the best at care package ideas." Tikki said as Adrien sighed disappointingly, "But why not try asking Mrs. Dupain-Cheng? She might be able to help!"

"Oh yeah..." _He was nervous though._ "Thanks!"

* * *

Mrs. Dupain-Cheng was by the counter kneading some dough whilst Adrien anxiously stared at her.

"Mrs. Dupain-Cheng?"

"Adrien." She exclaimed, "Nice to see you down here! Do you need something?"

"Uh...actually...I wanted to ask you something, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng?" His nervousness brushed through his voice.

"Yes?"

"I'd like some tips on..." He paused, "making a care package?"

"You're making a care package?" Her eyes lighted up. "For whom?"

"Oh...a friend?" _He was hesitant in saying that it was the love of his life, who was also her daughter._

"Isn't Marinette there to give you advice?"

"Oh she..." He rubbed the nape of his neck, "Fell asleep? She seemed tired. It's fine because we're taking a break from the project, anyways."

"Well, a good break is always ideal." She said whilst washing her hands, "Back to your original questions. I'm assuming you've never made a care package before?"

"Uh...no...not really." He said sheepishly, "I'm no good with craft or any of that sort."

"Hmm...you seem eager to make this care package. She seems to be a special friend."

"She is-Wait a minute-I never said that _she was a she_."

"You never said she was a she?" Mrs. Dupain-Cheng chuckled. _Yeah...that sounded stupid._ "I have good intuition."

Adrien nods. _Marinette must get it from her mom..._

"Anyhow, Adrien, you don't have to be good at craft to make a care package."

"I don't?"

"Give the care package based on your feelings. It could be a simple card or note too. It could be a collage of pictures. Do what your good at."

"What if I'm not good at anything?"

"Adrien. You're clearly doubting yourself. Trust your instinct and ideas. You care for this person and you're passionate about making them this care package. Don't let your self-doubt ever get in the way of you doing something."

Adrien's cheeks heated up as he looked towards his feet. _He did have smart ideas. He just needed the courage to implement them._

"Thank you, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng! That really helped."

"No problem, dear. Also, please call me Sabine." She warmly smiled at him. _The motherly affection from her was nostalgic. It hit him hard._

"Thank you, Sabine." He returned the smile as he turned towards the staircase to return to the room.

"Adrien." Sabine interrupted his footsteps, "I'm sure Marinette will like whatever you give her."

Sabine winked at him as his cheeks reddened even more.

"Y-yeah. I-I'm sure she would!"

_Why did people always embarrass him by the teasing? Why?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be useful for...  
> Another fanfic : )


	29. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot going on...

"Kitty...Adrien..."

Marinette dreamily mumbled in her sleep rolling over.

"Identities...must protect..." Her voice grew frantic.

"No...no...t-that can't happen...not again...stop...please!"

"Marinette!" She heard Tikki's voice in her ear. "Are you okay?"

Marinette deeply exhaled and opened her eyes looking around frenetically.

"Where's Adrien?"

"Kiddo's downstairs. Will be back soon." Plagg said from the couch.

Marinette nodded as she sighed and got off the bed.

"Are you okay, Marinette?"

"I'm fine..." She tried giving Tikki a smile, "I'm just...confused."

She sat down on the chair and looked forward in contemplation. _There identities were revealed now but...what if...things wouldn't always go smoothly. What if they were at more risk than before? How would she stop herself from making the same mistakes all over again?_

_I chose you both for a reason._

_You're the best miraculous holder I have ever met, Ladybug._

_You hold all the keys._

_The real gift of life is life itself._

Master Fu had parted ways with them, and it wasn't fair. Life was never fair. A man needed to lose all his memories to support the greater good. Just when she'd thought things were going alright, she'd be back to square one. Endings were never completely happy in life. There would always be something to lose...

"Good to see you awake, Milady." Adrien's voice came from behind her; she spun her chair around to look at him. "Do you feel better?"

"I'm...feeling better..." She faked a smile at him.

"Hmm..." He perched himself on the floor in front of her, "You sounded hesitant...Is there something on your mind?"

"Uh..." Marinette paused. _Was talking about things that were already done worth it?_

"Please, Marinette." Adrien pleadingly looked at her placing his hand on hers. "You need to tell me how you're feeling."

"Adrien..." Marinette painfully looks into his eyes. "It's not that easy. I'm confused myself. I don't think I know what I'm feeling..."

"Talking about feelings is never easy." Adrien replied, "Especially the ones that are so close to your heart. It's difficult to share them to anyone else..."

Marinette gasped as she realised what he was talking about.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Talk about your feelings."

"I..." He gave her a soft and shy smile. "It's easy when you're with someone you trust."

He squeezed both her hands as her heart fluttered millions of symphonies at his words. She bit her lip and returned his shy smile.

Just then as if it had come to ruin the moment, a thrill of fear echoed down her spine as she released his hands.

"Marinette." Adrien asked. "What's wrong?"

Marinette hugged herself as painful thoughts and memories throbbed in her head.

"I'm s-scared and confused, Adrien."

"Why?"

"Remember when Miracle Queen happened..." Marinette sighed. _That wasn't the only thing that happened..._

"Yeah. I do. I remember." He assured her. "That was in the past. Despite what happened, we can still make things work, we have to remember what's important and look into the future."

"I know we will, Adrien. I know..." Marinette supressed a smile at him, "But things could go wrong..." _Too wrong._ "I feel like if we aren't careful then we could end up losing more than we expected to lose...with this identity reveal."

"Losing more?" Adrien looked at her confusedly. "Why do I feel that there is more to what you're saying?"

Marinette rose to her feet as stepped forward to the chaise so that her back was facing him. _There was no way she was going to tell him about Cat Blanc._

"If we aren't careful enough, we could end up losing all we've worked for. And more than that." Marinette replied. "We're superheroes, Adrien. The fate of Paris rests on our shoulders. Even a single clumsy action could have huge consequences. T-trust m-me...I've been there." _More than once._

"Marinette." She heard Adrien's sigh from behind her. "I understand that you're still stuck on that one mistake. That doesn't define who you are."

Marinette's eyes widened as she turned around to face Adrien who was standing in front of her.

"That one mistake lead to so much damage! Chloe got akumatized, Hawk Moth had the Miracle Box, He still has the deciphered version of the grimoire, He knows the identities of all our temporary heroes and worst of all...Master Fu is gone..." Marinette shrieked as all the memories of the battle flashed in her head; her hands travelled to mask her face. _Why? Why? Why had she let that happen? Why had she been a bad superhero?_

"Hey." Adrien said in his calm voice, reaching to hold her hands. "I understand. A lot happened. But that doesn't mean we should lose hope. We're still superheroes of Paris. Mistakes only help people rise stronger and smarter. You know that."

"I do..." Marinette's voice trailed off, "But how do you know that things won't go wrong again?"

"I'll admit it. I don't." Marinette trailed her eyes onto him. "But I do know that worrying about the future over past events isn't worth it. The only useful thing we can do is to stay hopeful. Plus, I believe that you and me can get through it."

"Let me guess. You and me against the world?" Marinette offered him a slight smile.

"Always. We're the perfect team! There's you with the amazing plans and the adorable dominant role." Adrien chirped as Marinette blushed. "And then there's me: funny and ultra-charming as always."

"You can dismiss the _funny_ part."

"Hey! You've laughed at a lot of my jokes before. Don't say that!" Adrien pouted as Marinette chuckled.

"Still not convinced...you do make a charming supportive role though." Marinette subconsciously leaned in.

"Ha! I knew you thought I was charming!" Adrien leaned forward and batted his lashes at her flirtatiously as she rolled her eyes. She didn't bop him away on his nose like she usually did though.

"Do you feel better at least now?" Adrien asked.

"Yes...but I still don't think I'm that confident with the fact that I won't mess up."

"Unfortunately, that's in your personality. Even if I started a campaign called ' _Please love yourself, milady_ ' I'm sure you still wouldn't be convinced." Adrien shrugged as Marinette chuckled and nodded. "But, if it makes you feel any better, I just want you to know that...I still love you just the way you are."

"I l- "Marinette then widened her eyes and leaned away as she processed what he had said. "Y-you still l-love me?"

"I've always loved you, Marinette." Adrien confessed. "I loved you as Ladybug. I always felt like you were more than a friend to me as Marinette. I'll admit that I was confused for a bit and I dated Kagami and all but that was another attempt to get over you as Ladybug. When I got closer to you as Marinette, I felt things that I've never felt before with you. I didn't realize them for a long time but when I did...I knew it was true. Then the whole reveal happened, and it just miraculously clicked into my brain that I was in love with the same person this entire time. So, yes, I still love you."

"I-Adrien..." Marinette painfully looked away. _Our love did this to the world, milady._ "I can't be in love with you."

"I know." She heard his dejected sigh and it hurt. _She didn't want to do this._ "There's still the other boy. I know that. It's been 2 weeks already; I don't know if you acted on our bet and confessed to him yet but...I'm more confused and a bit jealous actually of who this boy is. Who is he?"

"It's...uh" She hesitated. _Should she tell him?_ "I fell in love with this boy when he gave me his umbrella in the rain."

Marinette looked into his eyes to his reaction.

"That's vague. How many boys have given you umbrellas on rainy days?"

_Come on. This wasn't a good time to be oblivious, Adrien._

"Only one."

"One?" Adrien crinkled his brow. _Don't be oblivious._ His eyes finally widened as his mouth flung agape. "Oh."

"Yeah... _Oh_." She mimicked him as if annoyed.

"I fell in love with this oblivious boy in the rain. I thought he was just a mean rich bully like his other friend because of a huge misunderstanding with gum. However, later on that day..." Her tone changed to a softer pace. "The boy felt the need to be kind and apologise. He also thought it was necessary to point out how he'd never had friends before. There was no reason why this boy should be kind to me after I falsely accused him. Yet, he was kind enough and offered his umbrella to the girl who was impulsive and judgemental of him at first. I realised that...he had a rich heart...and...with that heart...he captured another heart that day."

Marinette's cheeks heated up as he turned to look at him and shyly grab a hold of his hand.

"My heart was always yours, Adrien."

Strange swirls of magical electricity was caught in the atmosphere. It felt like they were on a completely different dimension of their own, their connection holding them together as many more unspoken words flew across their minds as they stared into each other's minds.

Adrien was making a cute shocked expression as he tilted his head and smiled at her.

"I never thought this day would ever come." His voice was dreamy as she reciprocated his smile and looked at him from beneath her lashes.

"Don't get your hopes high." Marinette shook her head. "We can't be together yet."

"Why?"

"It's too dangerous. We're Ladybug and Cat Noir. Dating could cost us a lot." _You're still never going to find out about Cat Blanc._

"Understandable. Being a responsible superhero is important." Adrien nodded. "But that doesn't mean we'll never be a couple, right?"

"As long as you stay in love with me."

"I'll love you today, tomorrow, forever." Adrien leaned in closer. "Will you?"

"I'll just dismiss the fact that you quoted a GIF." Marinette said with a smile. _Typical Adrien._ "Instead, I'll say that...I'll love you to the ends of the earth."

Adrien gasped and smiled.

"Now...you quoted me."

"Stealing quotes from you is fun."

"I loved it."

Marinette and Adrien's smiles widened as they continued to stare at each other's faces.

They probably shouldn't have done it. They really shouldn't have done it. But they did not regret it.

In sync, they leaned in, so their lips clashed against each other. Soft strokes. Soft brushes. A rising feeling of shivers took over their body. It felt good though. It felt like a new sense of magic.

The warmth of his lips were brushing against hers and she didn't regret any moment of it. Their connection felt so strong at that moment; it felt like a whole new type of magic that they could never be able to share with someone else. In that moment, they knew they were made for each other.

When they parted, their cheeks were flushed, and their breaths were heavy. Not to mention, they were smiling like idiots.

"We shouldn't have that!"

"Hey! Are you saying it was bad?"

"Nope." Marinette grinned at him. "It was wonderful."

"I know..." He dreamily sighed. "It was an out-of-body experience. What miracle did you do to those few moments in my life?"

"I don't know." She returned his dreamy sigh. "Though, we can't do that for some time now. We have to be responsible superheroes."

"Right. Responsibility first as sad as it is." Adrien shook his head but then his face lighted up with an idea...

"What?"

"I just realised...you lost the bet...it's been more than 2 weeks when you confessed!"

"Oh no...What do you have in mind?" _She hopes it wasn't extreme punning or cat songs that was coming her way._

"Initially, I was planning to make you listen to me punning from my pun lists." _Pun lists. He has pun lists?_ "However, I'm planning to be nice. And I'm actually excited for what I've got planned."

"What have you got planned?"

"You'll see." He responded with a wink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CLIFFHANGER!!!  
> This isn't a typical fic where a reveal and romance solves everything.  
> Things still won't be that easy for them...


	30. Ice Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter.  
> But it's not the end ; )

"Are you sure this is not a date?" Marinette asked him as they walked near the banks of Seine.

"Date? Wha- _Noooo!"_

Marinette eyed him incredulously as he sighed shaking his head.

"Okay. Fine. It _may_ be a date." He gave her a sheepish smile. "But that's just to us. In everyone else's eyes, we're _just friends_ hanging out."

"Friends who get _sweetheart ice cream_ together? Do you think they'll believe that? I don't think we should take risks..." Marinette said anxiously eyeing the ice cream cart on the bridge.

"Uh...we'll just say that we bumped into each other if anyone saw us, or you could even say you don't have money on you and you were really hungry so I decided to get you some ice cream, there's numerous believable excuses."

"I don't know, Adrien...Maybe try something else for the bet. As much as I hate to admit it, at least, your pun lists would be safer?"

Adrien bit his lip as he as he looked at her.

"Please, Marinette. We could get ice cream quickly and walk back to your house. I'll phone my dad and tell him that we're doing our project. Which we will do soon...but please...it doesn't have to look weird."

Marinette looked back and forth between the ice cream cart and him. He knew she was uncertain and the stricter one when it came to superhero rules. But...he just wanted to see...and he wanted to show her.

"Okay." Marinette finally accepted and he gave her a bright smile. "However, the two of us are getting separate cones."

"As much as I wanted to feed you with my own hands..." He said with a wink. "I'll accept because I know that wouldn't be very discrete."

"Yeah. Being discrete always comes first." She gave him a pat on the back as they approached the bridge. _Tough life of a superhero..._

"Hello, kiddos! It's good to see you two together here! What ice cream can I get for you lovebirds?" Marinette and Adrien both blushed at that comment. _So much for being discrete...but he was just being Andre..._

"Uh...we're friends, Andre. And we'd like a separate sweetheart cone for each." Marinette clarified.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Both of them responded simultaneously. _It wasn't what they wanted but they were sure..._

"Alright then..." He turned to Adrien and gave him a bright smile. "For you, pretty boy, I have...Blackberry for her hair, and blueberry for her sky-blue stare. There seems to be a scoop missing, I wonder what happened to it..."

Andre gave him a wink as he handed him the ice cream cone. He smiled looking at Marinette and took the cone in his hands.

"Thank you, Andre." He took a lick. " _It's perfect._ "

"I know." Andre nodded at him before facing Marinette.

"So...Pretty Marinette...Chocolate chips, Peach pink lips and mint like his eyes. Is this the ice cream you seek?"

"Yeah..." Marinette took it in his hands. _He should've seen it coming but...seeing himself in her sweetheart ice cream in the flesh was something different..._

"Delicious as always." Marinette said. "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome. May the love materialise and enjoy your ice cream!" Andre bade them as they departed.

"Has your ice cream always been the same?" Adrien asked her.

"Well...yeah...apart from the chocolate chips."

"Mine was supposed to have a strawberry and chocolate chip scoop as well."

"Is it because we revealed our identities?"

"I was thinking something else..." Adrien bashfully looked away, "It's a bit...cheesy."

"You think I'm not used to your cheesiness, already?" Marinette chuckled.

"Hey! Yeah..." He smiled. "I think this just shows that we've grown closer...our bond has, that is, on both sides, I feel we can understand each other better. I feel that I can be more of myself around you. It feels good."

He looked up to her and a smile caved its way to her lips.

"That's not cheesy." Her voice was soft. "It's true. I feel that I can see you more clearly."

"You can see me through the mask, and I can see you." Adrien beamed. "I don't think we could be more _unstoppable_ now."

"I agree." Marinette peeked at him from beneath her lashes, "Now, we can see in the night and day."

"Love goes from one side to another."

"I suppose it does." Marinette smiled with that pink hue on her cheeks.

"Ugh...both of you are being cheesy, can't you wait until you reach the bakery?" Plagg moaned from Adrien's pocket.

Marinette and Adrien rolled their eyes at the kwami. _Thank you, Plagg, for ruining the moment._

* * *

"I think that was enough research for today...we deserve a break." Marinette said triumphantly as she crossed her legs on her desk

"We sure do." Adrien shifted his chair closer and laid an arm around Marinette as she logged out of her computer.

Marinette smiled at him as she looked forward.

"How's your home situation going?"

"You know...the regular...besides, I don't care that much as I'm around you a lot anyhow." He beamed at her. "Have you sorted your sleep schedule?"

"Uh...I did get much more sleep last night than I've gotten in the last few months." She admitted. "Is that a good thing?"

"Definitely." He softly said and placed a kiss on her forehead.

Marinette reached up to touch the region he kissed her. _It tingled with warmth._

"This will take some time to get used to..."

"Weren't you hoping for it though?" He winked at her.

"Yeah...well...not expecting it...exactly...now...I can't imagine there being someone else." Marinette's cheeks dusted with pink.

"Now...milady...you finally see that we're meant to be."

"We're meant to be." Marinette repeated. "But there's still a wall between us."

"That wall will soon be broken someday. Don't worry. You've got nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?" She laid her head on his shoulder.

"Absolutely." He rested his head on hers planting another kiss on her forehead. _Though...that's not really where he was aiming for..._

Marinette raised her head to look up at him. There was passion burning in her eyes.

"Adrien."

"Mhm."

"Lock the trapdoor."

Adrien chuckled. "It's locked."

"Good." Marinette circled his arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips.

_Yeah...they were meant to be alright..._

_Meant to be._

_Despite what would happen in the future, they'll always be made for each other._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the first book of the Meant To Be Series done : )  
> Yes. I said 'first book'.   
> I'll be writing another one for Ladynoir July.   
> It is mainly based on the aftermath of the reveal and how their duties and feelings constantly clash.  
> However, they'll be plenty of plot coming too!  
> Tysm for reading anyhow!!!  
> I'd like to hear your thoughts and opinions about the fic and maybe things like your favourite chapter and moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this fic a while ago.  
> I did post all the chapters on other sites.  
> However, I recently got an account here and decided to post it, seeing as it was well-received in other sites.


End file.
